Nearly half a million Afghans return from Iran after crackdown

*UN warns that mass Afghan returns from Iran risk deepening instability in a nation already grappling with severe crises.*
Afghan refugees rest with their belongings after arriving at the zero point of the Islam Qala border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran, following their deportation from Iran [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Nearly 450,000 Afghans have returned from Iran since early June, according to the United Nations refugee agency, after Tehran imposed a July 6 deadline for undocumented migrants and refugees to leave the country.
The surge compounds Afghanistan’s existing challenges as the impoverished nation struggles to integrate waves of returnees from Pakistan and Iran since 2023, amid one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises after decades of conflict.
The UNHCR reports that more than 1.4 million people have “returned or been forced to return to Afghanistan” this year alone. Iran’s late May directive potentially affects four million undocumented Afghans among the approximately six million Afghan residents claimed by Tehran.
Border crossings increased dramatically from mid-June, with some days seeing approximately 40,000 people entering Afghanistan. Between June 1 and July 5, 449,218 Afghans returned from Iran, bringing the 2024 total to 906,326, according to an International Organization for Migration spokesman.
Many returnees report experiencing pressure from authorities, arrests, deportations, and financial losses due to hasty departures. The crisis response has been hampered by significant cuts in foreign aid, prompting calls for increased funding from the UN, international NGOs, and Taliban officials.
The UN has cautioned that this mass return could further destabilise Afghanistan, which already faces entrenched poverty, unemployment, and climate change effects. “Forcing or pressuring Afghans to return risks further instability in the region, and onward movement towards Europe,” the UNHCR said on Friday.
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While Taliban officials advocate for a “dignified” return process, Iranian media frequently reports mass arrests of “illegal” Afghans. Iran’s deputy interior minister, Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian, acknowledged that while undocumented Afghans in the country were “respected neighbours and brothers in faith”, Iran’s “capacities also have limits”. He indicated the return process “will be implemented gradually”.
Many Afghans had migrated to Iran for employment, sending vital remittances to families in Afghanistan. Returnee Ahmad Mohammadi told the AFP news agency at a reception centre in Herat province, “If I can find a job here that covers our daily expenses, I’ll stay here. But if that’s not possible, we’ll be forced to go to Iran again, or Pakistan, or some other country.

At Herat province's Islam Qala crossing, the checkpoint is usually busy handling everything from smuggling to deportation as young men seek work in Iran. But since Tehran ordered undocumented Afghans to leave by July 6, the number of returnees - especially families - has surged. [Mohsen Karimi/AFP]
More than 230,000 departed in June alone, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

Since January, more than 690,000 Afghans have lef Iran, "70 percent of whom were forcibly sent back", IOM spokesperson Avand Azeez Agha told AFP. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

Of the more than a dozen returnees AFP spoke to, none said they had fled the recent Iran-Israel conflict, though it may have ramped up pressure. Arrests, however, had helped prompt their departures. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

The UN mission for Afghanistan, UNAMA, has warned that the influx of deportees - many arriving with "no assets, limited access to services, and no job prospects" - risks further destabilising the crisis-wracked country. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]