RASC News Agency: The Bakhtar News Agency, operating under the Taliban, reports that Iran and Pakistan forcibly and voluntarily deported 269 Afghanistani families on September 11. According to the report, these migrants entered Afghanistan through border crossings in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Nimroz, and Herat provinces. The news agency adds that 18 families returned via the Torkham crossing and 39 families through Spin Boldak.
Additionally, 89 families returned through the Pol-e Abrisham border, and 123 families came back via the Islam Qala border. Some of the returnees from Pakistan have reported that Pakistani authorities seized all their belongings, leaving them empty-handed upon their return to Afghanistan. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data indicates that since August 2021, following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, over 600,000 Afghanistani citizens have sought refuge in Pakistan.
In a related development, Iranian officials, including Hassan Kazemi Qomi, the country’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, presented a new plan for handling Afghanistani migrants during a meeting on September 3. Meanwhile, Mojtaba Abdollahi, the governor of Alborz Province in Iran, recently stated that over 50,000 Afghanistani migrants have been deported from this province alone over the past year. Since the Taliban’s return to power, millions of Afghanistanis have fled the country due to poverty, unemployment, and survival concerns.
