Story perspectives

Truck Crash Kills 18 Afghan Returnees, Including Children

5/31/2026

Summary

Truck Crash

A truck carrying Afghan returnees overturned near the Surkhakan intersection in Qarghayi district, Laghman province on May 30, killing 18, including 10 children and five women.
Aminullah Sharif said the driver fell asleep, causing the crash.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid expressed sorrow and offered prayers for the victims.
Thirty-five injured were taken to hospitals in Nangarhar.
In 2026, the disaster authority pledged 730,000 afghanis after over 447,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan.

Summary

Afghan Families Crash

Pakistan’s tightened immigration enforcement forced Afghan families to return home in trucks packed with their belongings.
A truck carrying these families crashed, highlighting Afghanistan’s chronic road-safety problems from poor roads, reckless driving and weak law enforcement.
Emergency responders transferred the injured to hospitals in neighboring Nangarhar province, showing cross-provincial coordination after a crash that follows an August 2025 bus accident that killed 78 returnees, including 19 children.

History

Historical Context

In 2009 the UNHCR’s Afghan Repatriation Initiative moved about 1.2 million Pakistan-based refugees back to Afghanistan, after 4.4 million had returned since 2002. That year the Taliban-run Ministry of Public Health recorded 4,500 traffic deaths, a 15 % rise, showing poor road safety. The May 30, 2024 Laghman truck crash that killed 18, including ten children, revives those risks, urging the Taliban, Pakistan and UNHCR to tighten vehicle regulations.

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Truck Crash

A truck carrying Afghan returnees overturned near the Surkhakan intersection in Qarghayi district, Laghman province on May 30, killing 18, including 10 children and five women.
Aminullah Sharif said the driver fell asleep, causing the crash.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid expressed sorrow and offered prayers for the victims.
Thirty-five injured were taken to hospitals in Nangarhar.
In 2026, the disaster authority pledged 730,000 afghanis after over 447,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan.

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