Shargh Newspaper: Iran Has Returned Thousands of Afghan Refugees
Shargh newspaper reported on Tuesday that the Iranian government is daily deporting Afghan migrants who have fled Taliban violence, and has only returned “three thousand” Afghan military personnel, “some of whom came with their wives and families,” in the border area near Hirmand city.
According to the report, the deportation of these military personnel took place following an agreement between Iran and the Taliban, and in addition, some temporary camps in border areas have been closed.
Iran’s Ministry of Interior had previously stated that two months before Kabul’s fall, it had anticipated a new wave of Afghan migrants and had established camps to receive them.
However, according to Shargh newspaper’s report citing local sources, “there are no more camps. Everyone [refugees] was sent to Afghanistan.”
The Shargh correspondent, who visited several border regions, wrote that in search of Afghan refugees, he visited “Malashirif checkpoint and Hirmand’s foreign affairs office” and “Chabahar and Zahak,” but ultimately a border commander in Zahak told him: “All Afghans who had entered Iran in recent days have been sent back across the border.”
In another section of the report, it was emphasized that contrary to Red Crescent propaganda about launching multiple camps, in these areas the correspondent “saw neither tents, nor camps, nor any temporary shelters.”
According to United Nations reports, since the beginning of this year, at least 360,000 additional people have been displaced due to escalating conflict in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees Affairs also announced on June 20 of this year that approximately 6.5 million Afghans live as migrants or refugees in 70 countries worldwide.
Based on the latest statistics from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees Affairs from last February, two and a half million Afghan nationals are living in Iran, and it is predicted that the migration wave of citizens of this country from unofficial channels will increase following recent conditions in the country.
Source: Radio Farda
