The Ministry of Refugees has reported that 126 Afghan families have returned to the country through border routes after being expelled from Iran and Pakistan.
According to Bakhtar News Agency, on Thursday, January 2, officials from the Taliban Ministry of Refugees and Returnees reported that 126 Afghan migrant families returned to Afghanistan yesterday after being expelled from Iran and Pakistan via border routes.
The officials added that 11 families returned through Torkham, 20 families through Spin Boldak, 39 families through Nimroz, and 56 families through Herat.
This comes as Afghan migrants are increasingly being forcibly returned from neighboring countries.It is worth noting that the expulsion and return of Afghan migrants from Iran and Pakistan has intensified recently. A professor at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran mentioned during a conference on January 1 that many intellectuals from Afghanistan have migrated to Iran since 2021. He referred to these intellectual migrants as human capital and noted that their migration to Western countries is a loss for Iran.
The university professor, speaking at the “Migration of Intellectuals in Iran Today: Challenges and Solutions” conference, highlighted that Afghan migration to Iran began in the 1970s, and now the second and third generations of these migrants are living in Iran. These individuals, according to the professor, have studied and grown within the country.
This forced migration highlights the growing challenges in neighboring countries, where economic and political instability are pushing refugees back to Afghanistan, a country already facing its own struggles with recovery and governance.
The plight of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran is becoming increasingly urgent. The loss of human capital, especially among educated Afghan migrants, is detrimental to both the countries of origin and the host nations.
The international community needs to focus on providing more humanitarian support to these refugees, creating opportunities for safe resettlement, and addressing the root causes of displacement to prevent further suffering.