Afghans being forced out of Iran are grappling with an uncertain future in Afghanistan, where widespread poverty and severe restrictions on women and girls await.The New York Times reports that at the border between Iran and Afghanistan, an estimated 20,000 people are crossing every day. These individuals, mostly Afghans, are shocked and fearful as they have been expelled from Iran with very few belongings. This is a result of a targeted crackdown and xenophobia towards undocumented refugees.
According to the United Nations’ refugee agency, more than 1.4 million Afghans have been forced to flee or have been deported from Iran since January. This is due to the Iranian government’s efforts to clamp down on undocumented refugees. In the past month alone, over half a million Afghans have been returned to their homeland, adding to the already severe humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. This has also exacerbated the strict restrictions on women and girls in the country.
The majority of these returnees are being dumped at an overcrowded border facility in western Afghanistan, near the town of Islam Qala. Many of them expressed anger and confusion to New York Times journalists, as they are unsure of how to move forward with very limited prospects in a country that some have never lived in or barely know anymore.
One of the returnees, Mohammad Akhundzada, a construction worker, shared his frustration at the processing center in Islam Qala. He had worked in Iran for 42 years and now feels like it was all for nothing. He stated, “I worked so hard that my knees are broken, and for what?”
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