A tragic road accident in Laghman Province claimed the lives of at least 22 Afghan refugees who were returning home from Pakistan, while approximately 36 others were injured when the truck carrying them overturned on a major highway in eastern Afghanistan. Most of the victims were reportedly women and children, highlighting the devastating human cost faced by many Afghan families returning to the country amid ongoing regional migration pressures.
The accident took place on Saturday along the main highway connecting Kabul, the Afghan capital, with Nangarhar Province. According to Abdul Malik Niazai, spokesperson for the provincial governor of Laghman, the truck was transporting Afghan returnees who had recently crossed back into Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Officials stated that the vehicle lost control and overturned after plunging into a roadside ditch. Preliminary investigations suggested that the driver may have fallen asleep while driving, causing the fatal crash. The accident immediately resulted in heavy casualties among passengers who were travelling in difficult conditions as part of their return journey.
According to provincial health authorities, the death toll reached 22 people. Among those killed were 10 children and five women, underscoring the vulnerability of many of the families involved. Around 36 other passengers suffered injuries of varying severity and were transported to hospitals in Nangarhar Province for emergency medical treatment.
Aminullah Sharif, the province’s public health director, confirmed both the death toll and the number of injured individuals. He stated that the truck crashed after the driver reportedly fell asleep, causing the vehicle to veer off the road and fall into a ditch.
The passengers were among the growing number of Afghans returning from Pakistan following Islamabad’s crackdown on undocumented migrants, which began in 2023. Since then, Pakistani authorities have deported or pressured large numbers of Afghan nationals to leave the country. At roughly the same time, Iran also intensified measures against Afghan migrants, resulting in further large-scale returns.
As a consequence, millions of Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran over the past few years. Many of these returnees had spent most or all of their lives abroad, with some having been born in Pakistan and never previously living in Afghanistan. Numerous families are now undertaking long and often difficult journeys back to a country already struggling with economic hardship, limited infrastructure, and humanitarian challenges.
In a separate incident reported from Nuristan Province, another road accident occurred on Friday night when a car plunged off a road and into a river. Provincial officials stated that the driver survived with injuries, but four passengers remained missing. Rescue teams were deployed to search the river and the surrounding areas in an effort to locate the missing individuals.
These incidents highlight the persistent problem of road safety in Afghanistan. Traffic accidents are frequent across the country due to a combination of poor road conditions, inadequate infrastructure, overloaded vehicles, limited safety measures, and widespread disregard for traffic regulations. Mountainous terrain, ageing transportation networks, and long-distance travel under difficult conditions further increase the risk of serious accidents.
The Laghman tragedy is particularly significant because it involves refugees returning after years or even decades abroad. For many Afghan families already facing uncertainty about housing, employment, and reintegration, the accident has turned what was meant to be a journey home into a devastating loss of life. The incident also draws attention to the broader humanitarian challenges associated with the large-scale return of Afghan migrants from neighbouring countries and the strain this places on Afghanistan’s transportation systems and public services.
