Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation on Saturday announced that more than 2,000 Afghan migrants returned home from Iran through the Islamqala crossing point in eastern Herat province.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, the ministry reported from repatriation of 2,731 Afghan nationals to the country from Iran.
According to the Taliban border security commander, these returnees entered Afghanistan through the Islamqala crossing point in eastern Herat province.
He further added that some 547 returnees have been introduced to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to receive basic needs.
The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation of Afghanistan has not clarified whether these refugees were forced to leave or they left willingly left Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign affairs minister in a phone call with the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that Afghan migrants currently living in Iran exceed five million.
“Managing this large number of refugees in a single country needs immediate international support,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.
Besides the serious humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, growing unemployment and stay issues in the two neighboring countries of Iran and Pakistan have led to the voluntary return of thousands of Afghan refugees to the country on a weekly basis.
Despite all the odds, Pakistan and Iran have generously hosted millions of Afghan refugees for decades to live a peaceful life, work, educate and thrive respectively.
