Sweden has spent more than eight million kronor (about $820,000) on a voluntary return programme encouraging Afghan migrants to return to Afghanistan, but no participants have taken up the offer since the initiative began in 2025, according to Sweden’s Aftonbladet.

The programme, known as “Zindagi Taza” (“New Life”), is run by the international organisation Seefar and funded by the Swedish government. It aims to reach around 2,000 Afghans living in Sweden and encourage 200 of them to return voluntarily to Afghanistan.

With only two months remaining before the project concludes, no one has returned through the programme.

Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell said it was too early to judge the initiative’s effectiveness.

“I think we should wait until the end of the project before we evaluate it,” Forssell told Aftonbladet.

The campaign targets Afghan nationals who have been unable to be deported from Sweden. According to Forssell, one of the programme’s objectives is to reduce the number of migrants who remain in the country without legal status by encouraging voluntary return rather than forcing people underground.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Barham Salih, and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Alexander De Croo, arrived in Kabul on Sunday for a visit focused on Afghanistan’s humanitarian and development challenges.

According to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, the two officials were received at Kabul International Airport by the ministry’s deputy minister, Abdul Rahman Rashid.

Welcoming the delegation, Rashid said a field visit provides a more accurate understanding of conditions in Afghanistan than written reports. He said millions of Afghans have lived abroad for years while maintaining ties to their homeland and expressed hope that greater attention to the needs of refugees would help protect their dignity and improve their living conditions.

Barham Salih said the purpose of the visit was to assess the challenges facing the Afghan people firsthand and explore ways to address them.

He added that around six million Afghans have returned to the country since 2023, describing the figure as a global record, and reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to supporting Afghans and ensuring humanitarian assistance reaches those in need.

UNDP’s De Croo said the United Nations maintains an active presence in Afghanistan and will continue supporting the country through development, healthcare and humanitarian assistance. He also pledged efforts to help create more employment opportunities for Afghans.

The ministry said the visit reflects the international community’s commitment to supporting the Afghan people as they face ongoing economic and humanitarian challenges.

Germany’s Interior Ministry says the continued operation of Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions in the country is essential to carrying out deportations of rejected Afghan asylum seekers, as Berlin moves to increase returns to Afghanistan.

In response to an inquiry by German media DW, the ministry said Afghan authorities are obliged under the international law to accept its nationals deported by Germany.

“By accepting returns from Germany, Afghanistan’s de facto government is fulfilling its obligation under customary international law to readmit its own nationals,” the ministry said. “At the same time, the functioning of Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions in Germany is a prerequisite for issuing replacement travel documents required for deportations.”

The German government has pledged to step up deportations to Afghanistan, with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt proposing three charter deportation flights per month, alongside individual deportations on scheduled commercial flights.

Although Germany does not recognize the Islamic Emirate as Afghanistan’s government, both the Afghan Embassy in Berlin and the Consulate General in Bonn are now headed by representatives of the Islamic Emirate. According to media reports, the German government has confirmed that four additional Afghan diplomats are also expected to arrive in Germany.