283,000 Afghans have returned from Iran in eight months
The International Organization for Migration says about 300,000 Afghans have returned to their country from Iran and Pakistan since the beginning of this year. The number of those who left Iran accounts for nearly 95 percent of this figure.
The International Organization for Migration reports that 283,000 Afghan citizens left Iran in the first eight months of 2019. During this period, 17,000 Afghans also returned to their country from Pakistan. In 2018, the total number of Afghans who returned to their country from Pakistan was 33,000.
The organization emphasized that the relevant statistics do not include Afghans whose names are officially registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or who do not have a residence permit.
In 2018, more than 773,000 Afghans who were not registered as refugees returned to Afghanistan from Iran. That same year, many farmers had migrated to Iran due to a severe drought in western Afghanistan. Another 570,000 are expected to leave Iran in 2019 due to “continued economic hardship.”
The currency shock and the terrible fall in the value of the Iranian currency, along with the damage caused by sanctions, first and foremost affected the Afghan workforce. The construction slump and economic recession caused a decline in demand for cheap, illegal Afghan labor.
The International Organization for Migration announced in January 2019 that the number of returnees had increased by 66 percent compared to 2018. According to the organization, 1.5 to 2 million unregistered Afghan migrants live in Iran, and another 1 million are legally resident in the country.
Afghans migrated to Iran and Pakistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979 and during the civil wars and Taliban rule. This migration continues to this day. Afghan workers pay smugglers between $300 and $500 to reach Iran.
Many Afghan workers in Iran used to send part of their wages to their families in Afghanistan, but the 300 percent jump in the dollar-rial exchange rate has reduced this contribution to a meager amount. The Afghans are returning home at a time when the country's population is suffering from rising unemployment, sluggish economic development, and a large number of internal refugees.
The UN's humanitarian agency says more than 220,000 people have been displaced from their villages and hometowns since the beginning of 2019 due to armed conflict, especially in the northern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan.
Source: DW
