Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation announced that 2,106 Afghan refugees returned to the country from Iran through Islamqala border in western Herat province.
The Refugee and Repatriation Ministry in a series of tweets said these migrants returned to the country on Saturday, June 3.
The head of Islamqala border forces said that at least 193 returnees were introduced to International Office for Migration (IOM) to receive basic necessary aid.
This comes as the repatriation of Afghan migrants from Iran has unprecedentedly increased over the past months due to multiple reasons.
Previously, Mawlavi Abdullah Reyaz, head of the refugee department of Nimruz province had said that more than 65,000 migrants have returned to the country through the Pul-e-Abresham crossing point over the past month.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation earlier announced that more than 527,000 Afghan refugees had returned to the country over the past year – adding they either willingly or forcefully left the host country.
However, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that the continuous return of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries is closely linked to the rising inflation and lack of employment opportunities in the host countries.
As per the existing reports, roughly six million Afghan migrants currently reside in Iran and Pakistan. Despite, all the odds, the two neighboring countries of Iran and Pakistan have hosted Afghan refugees for decades.
