Iran Carries Out Mass Expulsion of Afghan Refugees

New York Times

5 days ago

Hundreds of thousands of hungry, exhausted and often battered Afghans have been expelled from Iran in recent weeks, under a harsh deportation drive that accelerated sharply last month, international aid workers say.
Since March, when Iranian authorities ordered undocumented residents to leave the country, about 800,000 Afghans have poured across the border, Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the United Nations' refugee agency, said on Monday. Almost 600,000 of them have been forced out since June 1.
During and since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last month, Iranian officials have repeatedly cast suspicion on Afghans as possible spies for Israel, amplifying longstanding rumors and tensions. In that environment, and with the approach of a July 6 deadline set by the Iranian government, the pace of migrations soared to an average of about 30,000 per day recently, peaking on Friday at more than 50,000 people crossing into Afghanistan, Mr. Baloch said.
Iran has ranked as the world's biggest host country for refugees, with nearly 3.5 million according to the United Nations, primarily people who fled decades of war and violence in Afghanistan. Aid groups estimate that in reality, the Afghan population in Iran is much larger — including about two million refugees who are undocumented — and Iran's patience with them appears to have run out.
Iranian authorities say that Afghans with proper documents are still accepted, but U.N. officials say that the reality is harsher — some of those returning to Afghanistan in recent weeks had received visas from Iran's consulate in the western town of Herat, but still were compelled to leave.
'The gloves are off,' Arafat Jamal, the U.N. refugee agency representative in Kabul said in a phone interview. 'There's a bit of a frenzy at the moment, no one is going to oppose deportations of Afghans right now so those who wish to deport them have been ramping it up.'
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