Expelled Afghans Face Dire Choices as Iran Enforces Mass Deportations

Nearly 1.4 million Afghans have been expelled from Iran amid a government crackdown, creating a humanitarian crisis at the Islam Qala border where returnees confront bleak prospects in their homeland, exacerbated by women's rights restrictions and economic struggles.

At the border between Iran and Afghanistan, a staggering flow of nearly 20,000 Afghans is crossing daily, forced out by Iran's intensified deportation efforts, revealing a humanitarian crisis compounded by systemic poverty and restrictions on personal freedoms. The United Nations reports that over 1.4 million Afghans have been forcibly returned since early January, primarily amid a crackdown on undocumented immigrants. This influx has escalated particularly since the recent conflict between Israel and Iran, as more than half a million individuals have been returned in just a few weeks.

Upon arrival at the Islam Qala processing center in northwestern Afghanistan, expelled individuals express outrage and fear. Many find themselves in a country authored by their traumatic absence, struggling to reclaim lives once abandoned. “I worked in Iran for 42 years, so hard that my knees are broken, and for what?” states Mohammad Akhundzada, a construction worker now confronting an uncertain future.

The returnees are dumped into an overcrowded border facility where their living conditions are dire, echoing the broader plight of a nation facing heightened humanitarian challenges. Many have left behind memories of a life in Iran filled with hopes yet return to Afghanistan's stark realities where severe restrictions on women persist and economic instability looms over every aspect of daily life. The intersection of these complexities reveals the deepening crisis facing a population with few viable options as they seek to navigate their precarious future amidst such overwhelming adversities.