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The Guardian
04-08-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Jobless, homeless and helpless without a man: Afghan women expelled by Iran into hands of the Taliban
Safia* thought she had finally found safety for herself and her children. After years of violence and hardship at the hands of her husband, a police officer who became a Taliban commander in the western province of Herat, Safia and her two children had fled to Iran in 2018 to start a new life. There, with the help of other refugee Afghan women, she had started a small clothing business and had built a fragile but dignified life for herself and her family. Two weeks ago, that all collapsed when Safia and her teenage children were given a deportation notice. They joined hundreds of thousands of other refugees being rounded up and forced back over the border into Afghanistan. Now back in Herat, Safia lives in daily terror of her husband and his family. 'I was his second wife. My father forced me to marry him because he had money and power. He used to beat me constantly,' she says. 'Here in Herat, it is not safe for me. My husband is now working with the Taliban and still has influence.' Even though Safia was able to pull together some money before she was deported, she has not been able to find anywhere stable for her and her children to live and has no way of making a living. Of the estimated 800,000 undocumented Afghan refugees and migrants who were returned from Iran between 1 June and 23 July this year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says that 153,000 were women. Zuhal Nabi, of IOM Afghanistan, says of these 153,000 women, 8% are 'female-headed households', deported back to Afghanistan alone with their children without a husband or male guardian. All have been forcibly returned to a country operating under what is in effect a system of gender apartheid, and where women's rights have been stripped back to the bone. Safia and thousands like her find themselves in a country where women cannot rent homes without a male guardian, where they are barred from most paid work and cannot even visit a health clinic without a male escort. Human rights and aid organisations are warning that the number of single women who have been deported from Iran in the past few weeks has already overwhelmed the few remaining support systems, leaving many female-headed households trapped in poverty and exposed to abuse. Reporters from Zan Times talked to nine women forced to return to Afghanistan from Iran with their children but without a male guardian, all of whom say they are struggling to find shelter and food, while facing a maze of legal, economic and cultural restrictions. Fahima, who returned to Afghanistan in June, says no landlord will rent to her. 'They tell me outright that Taliban rules forbid it,' she says. 'I've been couch-surfing with relatives since I arrived. The only way to get a house is if a male relative signs the lease.' Two rental agents who agreed to be interviewed say it is impossible for them to offer housing to single or unaccompanied women. 'All rental agreements must be registered with the Taliban intelligence. If we rent to an unaccompanied woman, we risk imprisonment,' the owner of a small real-estate company in Herat says. 'It's just not worth it.' The lack of housing is matched by a lack of work. Raqia, a recently returned widow, says the only available jobs are underground and precarious. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion 'Even if a woman has skills, like tailoring or hairdressing, she must work in secret, at home. In Iran, I worked in a handbag factory; here, I can't work outside at all.' Almost all of the women talked of feelings of grief at losing everything they had and being sent back to Afghanistan. Sabera from Kunduz recalls how she lost all her possessions when her family was expelled abruptly. 'They didn't even let us take our furniture. We left with just one set of clothes each,' she says. 'The Iranian police beat my sons so badly they couldn't eat. I had to take them to the hospital often. My children now suffer from trauma. No one listens to us. We are refugees – we have no rights.' Maida moved to Iran with her son after her husband, a police officer under the previous government, died in a military operation. She says when she was detained by police in Iran, she was alone, queueing for bread. 'They didn't let me go home to get my son. They just took me to the deportation camp in Shandiz and sent me back to Herat.' Now living with members of her extended family, Maida faces the impossible choice of remaining separated from her son or risking another dangerous journey back. 'I can't stay here, away from my child, dependent on relatives, but without a passport and with Iran no longer issuing visas, I don't know how to get back to him. 'I can't live like this,' she says, 'but I don't know what to do.' * All names have been changed This article has been published in partnership with Zan Times.
Al Jazeera
01-08-2025
- General
- Al Jazeera
Forced back from Iran, Afghans face drought, poverty and repression
At the transit camp in Islam Qala in western Afghanistan, Fatima steps out of the bus into the blazing heat and an uncertain future. She is one of 10,000 people who has arrived from Iran that day and one of 800,000 who has arrived over the last six months. She hurries her three children to an empty spot, slumps onto the dusty ground, and shelters her family with bed sheets. When asked where she goes from here, she says a brother might take them in in her home town. The IFRC supports the Afghan Red Crescent Society to provide hot food and healthcare at the camp. UN agencies provide some cash. But within a day, it's time to leave. Bus drivers call out the names of Afghan cities and towns. Fatima lugs her cases towards a bus to Owbeh, in Herat province. Her three children trail behind her. She explains that she learned carpet weaving in Iran, but wasn't allowed to bring any materials or instruments with her. How can she start from scratch without money, she asks. And who would buy her carpets in her village anyway? They have nothing. Not even to eat. The departure from Iran has been traumatic, but her real challenges start now. When she arrives in her hometown, there will be no jobs in the public sector for her. Men will be reluctant to hire her because of the rules and regulations associated with employing women. Her one chance to cope will be to get her own enterprise going. For that, she'll need start-up capital. She may also need assistance from her brother to access markets. It will be a struggle, but increasing numbers of Afghan women are rising to this challenge. Fatima could, too. If only she could get access to credit. But will anyone in her community be able to buy her products? Like most Afghans, her neighbours will largely depend on agriculture, which will depend on irrigation and rain. In much of Herat province, and across the country, irrigation is becoming impossible because of drought. Rivers are dust. Underground water sources are drying up. With no possibility to farm, men are pouring into the cities in search of daily labour, only to find the battle for water is raging there, too. Mercy Corps has claimed that half of the boreholes in Kabul have dried out and the city could run out of accessible groundwater in five years. This trajectory could be slowed down or reversed, but only with major investment in water conservation, rain vats, storage dams, and check dams. Just the sort of investment that Afghanistan is struggling to raise. If Fatima can earn a little money and live close to water, then she can focus on her children's schooling. Her daughter will have to attend a madrassa. This will be a significant downgrade from her education in Iran. But if she's lucky, it will be one of the many madrassas that are already introducing more varied subjects and offering classes until 12th grade. If she's resourceful and can invest some funds, there may be other options too, including vocational training and online courses. The restrictions she will have to navigate are extreme, but not new. They reflect a long-running struggle between cities and the countryside, between desires for self-realisation and deeply rooted patriarchy. Foreign aid may help by quietly creating multiple and flexible opportunities to exchange and learn, while recognising that the ideological battles are for the Afghans themselves and will take time. Some organisations are trying to do this, but not to scale. It will take a lot of luck for Fatima to get investment in her social enterprise, to access clean drinking water and to get an education for her children. The alternative is grim, and sadly, much more likely. Like most new arrivals, she will probably be destitute within weeks. She won't access the rare opportunities for business support. Lack of water will empty the villages around her. If she stays put, her health will fail. Medical care will be too far to reach or too expensive. She may be forced to marry her daughter off early and nudge her boys away from school into some cheap, daily labour. This is what is happening across the country. If she can, to avoid such a terrible fate, she will try to get back to Iran. Can foreign aid play a role in supporting Fatima and the millions like her? Despite all the reservations, humanitarian funding has been generous in the last four years. More than $7bn has been spent on assistance. Enough to have helped tens of thousands of women to start small businesses. Enough to have irrigated farms, deepened bore holes and stored water across the country. Enough to have created thousands of alternative learning options for children. Humanitarian agencies have tried to assist in all these areas, but the demand for emergency relief has taken the bulk of the funds, and many donors have been reticent to invest in anything longer term for fear of appearing to legitimise those in power. The need for a new approach is compelling. There is less money available now due to aid cuts, but what little is left can still be invested into locally led strategies for livelihoods, water infrastructure, health and learning. This may give people like Fatima a spark of hope in their futures. This is what IFRC will focus on, as much as its resources allow. If the moral case for that is not compelling enough, it is worth reflecting that on the current trajectory, the historic repatriation to Afghanistan taking place this year is likely to be a prelude to a much bigger exodus in the years to come. It would be far wiser to invest now and give people a chance to thrive in their home country than to invest much more in refugee camps and anti-trafficking work in the near future. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
France 24
31-07-2025
- Business
- France 24
Thousands of Afghans scramble for chance to work in Qatar
The Taliban authorities announced a deal with Gulf state this month to recruit 3,100 workers from Afghanistan, who started applying on Tuesday at centres across the country. By Wednesday, more than 8,500 people had put their names down from the capital Kabul and surrounding provinces, labour ministry spokesman Samiullah Ibrahimi told AFP, and more than 15,500 people are expected to register nationwide. The Taliban government says the jobs will help fight steep unemployment and poverty in the country of around 48 million people, facing what the United Nations says is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. "Our country has many problems, most people are poor and work odd jobs," said Hanif, who travelled to western Herat from neighbouring Badghis to register. "I have skills in car mechanics and cooking, and I have certificates to prove it," said the 35-year-old, adding he was grateful to Qatar for employing Afghans. Competition is steep, however, with centres swarmed by hopeful applicants ready to present the required passports, identification cards and professional certificates to nab roles ranging from bus driver to cleaner, cook, mechanic and electrician. More than 1,000 people have applied in southern Kandahar for around 375 positions allocated to the region, and in Herat, around 2,000 people lined up on Wednesday to try for one of a few hundred jobs, AFP journalists said. Doha instead of Tehran Qatar, where the Taliban opened an office during the two-decade war with US-led forces, is one of the handful of countries to have strong diplomatic ties with Afghanistan's rulers after they swept to power in 2021. Only Russia has so far officially recognised the Taliban government. Discussions are also underway with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkey and Russia to set up similar deals, labour minister Abdul Manan Omari said in a statement on Tuesday. The process "will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the country's economic situation and reduce unemployment", said Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs. Nearly half of Afghanistan's population lives in poverty, and the unemployment rate (over 13 percent) affects nearly a quarter of young people aged 15 to 29, according to the World Bank. Those who do have work often support large, extended families on stretched salaries. High unemployment has been driven by infrastructure hamstrung by 40 years of conflict, drought impacting the crucial agriculture sector and the recent mass removals of Afghans from neighbouring countries, said Noorullah Fadwi, head of an association of job search companies. This year, nearly two million Afghans have returned to their country after being driven out or deported from Iran and Pakistan, where many had lived for decades. "We are grateful to Qatar and ask other (Arab) countries to hire Afghan workers too, because the situation in Iran and Pakistan is very bad," said 39-year-old Noor Mohammad, who registered in Herat, hoping for a hotel job. 'There is nothing' The Taliban authorities have not yet detailed how the Afghan recruits will be housed or their potential working conditions, while pledging to safeguard their rights. Qatar, where foreigners make up nearly 90 percent of the three million-strong population, has faced heavy criticism over the treatment of migrant labourers, particularly during construction leading up to hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar has since introduced major reforms to improve workers' safety and punish employers who violate the rules. It has dismantled its "kafala" labour system, which gave employers powerful rights over whether workers could leave their jobs or even the country. Mohammad Qasim, 37, said he would not go to Qatar if he could find a job in Afghanistan, but he earned a university degree in education four years ago and has been unemployed ever since. "I tried very hard to find work but there is nothing," he told AFP, saying he applied to be a cleaner at a centre in Kandahar. At least in Qatar, he said, "I will earn something."
Arab News
31-07-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Thousands of Afghans scramble for chance to work in Qatar
HERAT: When Mohammad Hanif heard Qatar was opening jobs to Afghans, he joined thousands of others to put his name down for a shot to make a living in the gas-rich emirate, his own country wracked by unemployment. The Taliban authorities announced a deal with Gulf state this month to recruit 3,100 workers from Afghanistan, who started applying on Tuesday at centers across the country. By Wednesday, more than 8,500 people had put their names down from the capital Kabul and surrounding provinces, labor ministry spokesman Samiullah Ibrahimi told AFP, and more than 15,500 people are expected to register nationwide. The Taliban government says the jobs will help fight steep unemployment and poverty in the country of around 48 million people, facing what the United Nations says is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 'Our country has many problems, most people are poor and work odd jobs,' said Hanif, who traveled to western Herat from neighboring Badghis to register. 'I have skills in car mechanics and cooking, and I have certificates to prove it,' said the 35-year-old, adding he was grateful to Qatar for employing Afghans. Competition is steep, however, with centers swarmed by hopeful applicants ready to present the required passports, identification cards and professional certificates to nab roles ranging from bus driver to cleaner, cook, mechanic and electrician. More than 1,000 people have applied in southern Kandahar for around 375 positions allocated to the region, and in Herat, around 2,000 people lined up on Wednesday to try for one of a few hundred jobs, AFP journalists said. Qatar, where the Taliban opened an office during the two-decade war with US-led forces, is one of the handful of countries to have strong diplomatic ties with Afghanistan's rulers after they swept to power in 2021. Only Russia has so far officially recognized the Taliban government. Discussions are also underway with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkiye and Russia to set up similar deals, labor minister Abdul Manan Omari said in a statement on Tuesday. The process 'will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the country's economic situation and reduce unemployment,' said Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs. Nearly half of Afghanistan's population lives in poverty, and the unemployment rate (over 13 percent) affects nearly a quarter of young people aged 15 to 29, according to the World Bank. Those who do have work often support large, extended families on stretched salaries. High unemployment has been driven by infrastructure hamstrung by 40 years of conflict, drought impacting the crucial agriculture sector and the recent mass removals of Afghans from neighboring countries, said Noorullah Fadwi, head of an association of job search companies. This year, nearly two million Afghans have returned to their country after being driven out or deported from Iran and Pakistan, where many had lived for decades. 'We are grateful to Qatar and ask other (Arab) countries to hire Afghan workers too, because the situation in Iran and Pakistan is very bad,' said 39-year-old Noor Mohammad, who registered in Herat, hoping for a hotel job. The Taliban authorities have not yet detailed how the Afghan recruits will be housed or their potential working conditions, while pledging to safeguard their rights. Qatar, where foreigners make up nearly 90 percent of the three million-strong population, has faced heavy criticism over the treatment of migrant laborers, particularly during construction leading up to hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar has since introduced major reforms to improve workers' safety and punish employers who violate the rules. It has dismantled its 'kafala' labor system, which gave employers powerful rights over whether workers could leave their jobs or even the country. Mohammad Qasim, 37, said he would not go to Qatar if he could find a job in Afghanistan, but he earned a university degree in education four years ago and has been unemployed ever since. 'I tried very hard to find work but there is nothing,' he told AFP, saying he applied to be a cleaner at a center in Kandahar. At least in Qatar, he said, 'I will earn something.'
The Independent
30-07-2025
- The Independent
Afghanistan's pioneering female tour guides are opening up the country for tourists
Amidst the ancient artefacts of Afghanistan 's National Museum, a seemingly ordinary tour group stood out for one extraordinary reason: every member, including their guide, was a woman. This all-female gathering, led by one of Afghanistan's pioneering female tour guides, represents a quiet but potent challenge to the Taliban 's severe impositions on girls and women. Somaya Moniry, 24, embodies this pioneering spirit. Unaware that tour guiding existed as a profession or even a concept, she stumbled upon the idea while seeking to improve her English language skills online, discovering Couchsurfing, an application designed to connect travellers with local hosts. After hosting a traveler, 'I became very passionate about it and it was very interesting for me,' Moniry said. 'It was very unique. I have never heard about it before, so I said: 'Why not (do) this?'' As she showed that first visitor around her hometown in western Afghanistan, she saw a new side to her country. 'Most of the things that we have heard (about Afghanistan) was just … negativity. The focus of the people, focus of the media, focus of headlines, all of them were just the negativity. And definitely we get influenced by that,' Moniry said. But for her, Afghanistan is far more nuanced. While there are undoubtedly problems in a place recovering from decades of war and chaos, there is also another side to the complex, stunning country. Her love for her homeland runs deep, and she is eager to share it. She hopes to gradually change people's perceptions. 'Whenever … I saw all of that natures, all those beauty, all those positivity, it changed my view totally,' Moniry said in her enthusiastic English. 'And definitely this can be also for other people.' One of those visitors is Australian Suzanne Sandral. She originally wanted to see Afghanistan in the 1960s but the pressures of having a family kept her away. Now at 82, she was part of Moniry's women-only tour group in Kabul. Afghanistan surprised her. 'It's not what I expected at all. I expected to feel rather fearful. I expected to be given a lot of ... accusatory looks. Not at all,' she said during a pause in sightseeing. 'Wherever you go in the streets, if you smile at someone and give them a little nod or say hello, you get a terrific response. So it's very different.' Jackie Birov, a 35-year-old independent traveler from Chicago who was not part of the tour group, called the Afghan people 'unbelievably hospitable.' However, 'I'm very aware that I have a lot more freedom than local women,' she said. Four decades of war have kept tourists away from Afghanistan. But while the Taliban's takeover of power in August 2021 sent thousands of Afghans fleeing and shocked the world, the end of its insurgency against the previous U.S.-backed government also marked a sharp drop in violence. Attacks still occasionally occur, mainly by an Islamic State affiliate, and Western countries advise against all travel to Afghanistan. Still, the improved security is increasingly attracting foreign visitors drawn by the dramatic scenery, millennia of history and a deeply ingrained culture of hospitality. Tourism is a fledgling industry, with annual visitors in the low thousands. Most are independent adventure travelers. But guided package tours are increasing from countries as diverse as China, Greece, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Afghanistan's Taliban government is keen to welcome them. Isolated on the international stage — officially recognized only by Russia, which did so in July — the government sees how potentially lucrative tourism could be. Tourist visas, typically single-entry ones valid for stays of up to 30 days, have become relatively simple to obtain from the few embassies that issue them. Regular flights connect Kabul with major transit hubs such as Dubai and Istanbul. For some, the idea of visiting Afghanistan as a tourist is morally abhorrent, particularly given the government's treatment of women. Girls are banned from education above primary school level, and women live under myriad restrictions. The government dictates what they can wear in public, where they can go and who they can go with. They cannot walk in parks or eat in restaurants. Beauty salons are banned. A very limited number of professions, such as teaching and carpet weaving, are open to them. And the rules can change quickly. But those involved in tourism point to the positive effects that visiting Afghanistan can have. 'I truly believe in ethical tourism,' said Zoe Stephens, 31, a British tour leader at Koryo Tours, a company specializing in unusual destinations. 'I believe that you can divide politics and people, and that is the main thing for me. … A country is not a sum of its politics. It's a sum of so much more, it's a sum of its culture, its history, its food, and especially in Afghanistan, its people.' Of the three recent tours Stephens led in Afghanistan, two were women-only. Working with local female guides, including Moniry, they combine key attractions with visits to women's centers and cooking and embroidery classes from local women — worlds that are closed to male travelers. 'We always try and do something a little bit different that really makes our tours unique, as well as something that kind of gives back to the community,' Stephens said. 'So I felt that working with the female tour guides does both of those things really well.' The groups are small — one had eight women, the other three — but the company is looking to build a network of female guides across Afghanistan. 'What we try and do with this tour, especially the women's tour, is conquer those ethical concerns,' Stephens said. 'The idea is to learn about the lives of Afghan women in context.'
