KABUL, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A total of 2,981 Afghan families with 16,928 members returned to their homeland from Iran and Pakistan over the past week, Afghanistan's High Commission for Addressing Returnees Problems announced Sunday.

Afghan refugee families heading back to their homeland, gather next to trucks loaded with their belongings as they wait for documentation at the UNHCR Voluntary Repatriation Centre in Azakhel, Nowshera a district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Aug 25, 2025. (File photo: AP)

All returning families have received immediate assistance, including food, drinking water, healthcare services, and free transportation to their destinations, the commission said.

An estimated 6 million Afghan refugees currently live abroad, primarily in Iran and Pakistan.