Iran to Expel 600,000 Unregistered Afghan Refugees

Nearly 130,000 undocumented Afghan refugees have been forced by the Iranian government to go home this year. Hundreds more are ousted each day from Iran, in line with Iran’s target of sending 600,000 back to Afghanistan by the end of the year. Hafiz Ahmad Miakhail, press advisor for the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, said that last week 7695 Afghan refugees returned from Iran, 60-65 percent of whom were deported involuntarily. He added, “The majority of them were young individuals, but some were families, including women and children.” Miakhail further stated that the involuntary deportation is a clear violation of bilateral and trilateral agreements. Iran has sent thousands of Shi’ite Afghan refugees to Syria to fight alongside forces of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard forces in support of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Iran’s army recruits them with promises of Iranian citizenship and improved living standards for their families.