This is a report on refugees from Afghanistan returning to their homeland from Pakistan and Iran after two decades of protracted wars. The report synthesizes the findings of case studies conducted in three countries (Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) as part of AREU’s research project focusing on second-generation Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran, and returnees from these neighboring countries to Afghanistan since 2001. The return project was initiated in 2006 and follows from the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit’s (AREU) work on transnational networks undertaken in 2004-05,8 which drew attention to a gap in information about the significant number of Afghan youth and young adults currently living in Pakistan and Iran. Many were born or grew up in exile and have little or no experience of living in their “homeland”.