Facing Poverty, Afghan Youth Return to Iran

Some Afghan youth said that although they have been forcibly deported from Iran many times, due to economic challenges they must return to Iran.

Ahmad Javad, 20, is an 11th grade student. He says that although he was forcibly deported three times by Iran’s military forces, unemployment forced him to leave his studies and go to Iran.

“When we leave Kabul for Iran, on the way to Iran we face many dangers. There is no employment in Afghanistan, we have to go to Iran,” Javad, a resident of Balkh, told TOLOnews.

Azizurahman, another Afghan who wants to go back to Iran to find a job there, said he was forcibly deported by Iranian security forces.

“We were working when they arrested us. They told us to go back to Afghanistan, they … harmed us and took our money,” he said.

Meanwhile, some immigrants’ rights activists in Iran said that although the recent census process allowed many Afghans to stay, the fact that their status may not be continued after the allotted six months makes their future precarious, especially those who want to bring family members to Iran.

“The census process has reduced the deportation of Afghan refugees from Iran, but the immigrants whose families are in Afghanistan want to bring their families to Iran and receive permission for them,” said Asefa Stanekzai, an Afghan migrants’ rights activist in Iran.

However, the Islamic Emirate said it is trying to address Afghan migrants’ challenges in Iran through diplomatic dialogue.

“First of all, we are trying to solve the problems of Afghan migrants in Iran through diplomatic channels, and secondly, now the security situation in Afghanistan is good and employment opportunities are provided, they should return to their country,” Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, told TOLOnews.

The census process documenting Afghan refugees in Iran started in April and continued until the month of May, and according to officials of the Iranian government, 2.3 million Afghan refugees registered.