RASC News Agency: The Bakhtar News Agency, now operating under Taliban control, reported Tuesday that 293 Afghanistani refugee families were expelled from Iran and Pakistan within a single 24-hour period. According to Bakhtar, of the total families, 47 were deported from Pakistan and 246 from Iran, returning to Afghanistan through the Torkham, Spin Boldak, Pul-e-Abrisham, and Islam Qala border crossings.
Just a week earlier, on October 22, Bakhtar also reported the forced repatriation of at least 266 Afghanistani families from the two neighboring countries, with 39 families expelled from Pakistan and 227 from Iran. Both Iran and Pakistan have intensified deportation efforts in recent months, with official data indicating that hundreds of Afghanistani refugees are being returned daily to Afghanistan. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) disclosed on October 21 that more than 733,000 Afghanistani refugees have been deported from Pakistan alone between August 2023 and October 2024.
Concurrently, Iranian authorities have imposed increasingly restrictive measures on undocumented Afghanistani refugees, criminalizing their employment and housing in numerous cities. These deportations force thousands back to a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where they confront severe poverty, widespread unemployment, and, for many, grave security risks.
