At least 4,000 Afghan refugees returned to country from Iran

KABUL: At least 4,000 Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan through the Zabol crossing point over the past 24 hours, Khaama Press reported on Monday citing Iranian border security officials.

Iranian border official Parwiz Qasimzada said that these Afghan migrants were arrested due to illegal entry and later on returned to Afghanistan

Some of the Afghan migrants were arrested due to the expiration date of their passports. Qasimzada further said that in order to enter, stay and exit Iran, foreign nationals would have to use legal channels.

He stressed that those foreign nationals illegally entering Iran would face legal action from the border guards. In the past month, over 74,000 Afghan migrants have returned to the country from Iran through the Silk Road crossing point in the past month, said Taliban's provincial officials at the Refugees and Repatriation Department of Western Nimroz province, according to Khaama Press.

The provincial head of Refugees and Repatriation of Nimroz province, Mawlavi Abdullah Ryaz said that at least 74,360 people including 1,106 families and 69,259 individuals have returned to the country from Iran over the past couple of weeks, Khaama Press reported citing Bakhtar news agency.

Meanwhile, the head of refugees in Iran's Razavi Khorasan province said that over the past year, nearly 90,000 Afghan refugees were returned to Afghanistan through the Dogharun border.

Since the Taliban took power on August 15, 2021, millions of vulnerable Afghan families migrated to neighbouring countries including Iran and Pakistan. Earlier, Ali Kazimi, Deputy Justice Minister of Iran had said that roughly 63 per cent of refugees in the country are from Afghanistan.

The International Organization for Migration in its latest report highlighted that 3.6 million Afghans migrated to the neighbouring countries in the past two years, 70 per cent of them to Iran, 18 per cent to Pakistan, 11 per cent to Turkey, and 2 per cent to other countries.

This comes as the Islamic Regime of Iran has forcefully deported thousands of Afghans to the country over the past months, as per Khaama Press.

Taliban officials have repeatedly reported the return of Afghan nationals from Iran in the past months. It is believed that some of these refugees willingly and others were forcefully returned to Afghanistan.