Just a short while back, Barakzai – an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, started experiencing a sharp shift in attitude from her typically amicable associates at a garment outlet in Iran’s major city, Tehran. She noticed an abruptness and detachment in their behavior. Commonwealths that used to serve as her sanctuary and second home have suddenly become ambiguous and unfriendly. There is a firmly held suspicion now that Afghans are the enemy, she depicts.
She recounts their disconcerting accusations, proclaiming her a confederate, justifying the government’s mandate– a mandate demanding her unemployment. Not too long ago, Iran mandated the expulsion of Afghans residing unlawfully in the country, stating an inability to provide further support. Approximately two-thirds of the nearly 6 million Afghans in Iran have legal standing, while the others are undocumented immigrants.
Post the decree, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reveals that over 1.3 million Afghans have embarked back to their homeland. Since the initiation of the recent conflict, Iran has ramped up its endeavours, branding Afghans as undercover agents as part of a larger expulsion strategy. This intensified drive implicates several aspects of Afghan life including accomodation, job security, and financial transactions.
Afghans have been restricted access to banking services, prevented from withdrawing their own money, or even asserting their right to work, she recounts. Allegedly, the authorities even threatened incarceration and imposed financial penalties on those dare to employ Afghan refugees. Intimidating measures have also coaxed landlords to cease renting accommodations to Afghans.
These public intimidations have resulted in the desired displaced masses. Thousand of Afghans depart daily for their homeland from Iran through the Islam Qala border crossing that stands between the two nations. Vacating refugees travel by bus or independently arrange for their departure. The influx of returning individuals has turned into a staggering phenomenon.
The UNHCR representative in Kabul describes the upsurge in numbers, ‘Our daily count surged extraordinarily from a mere 5,000 to an astounding 30,000-40,000, and occasionally even 50,000 returnees per day from Iran.’ Shockingly, it’s not the return itself, but rather the sheer magnitude and intensity of the influx that is most surprising.
The massive inflow of over 1.6 million returnees from various countries poses a truly colossal challenge for Afghanistan. Last year alone, a UN report found that more than half of the country’s population – around 23.7 million individuals – were in desperate need of humanitarian help. The situation looks progressively grim with the winding up of all but two programs in Afghanistan, one of which came to an end in June. An aggregate of 22 programs valued at nearly $1.03 billion hence ceased existence.
Many families already scraping by in Afghanistan are struggling to meet the needs of their own children,’ narrates Rahman. ‘Now, they are faced with an additional burden of integrating thousands, even millions more.’ Mounting issues like high unemployment rates are thrusting more residents into destitution. Imposed financial constraints and sanctions exert more pressure on businesses. The crumbling of remittance inflows from overseas workers, an economic pillar of the nation, intensifies the suffering.
Returnees are filled with uncertainty and fear. Rahman illustrates their predicament, ‘They’re questioning their capacity to support their families.’ They weren’t certain about where to resettle. Panic and dread had set in.’ In addition, many of the returning Afghan women are facing a restrictive regime that often bars them from employment, education, or even venturing outdoors without a chaperone.
Before her flight to Iran, she was compelled to halt her studies when the reigning power declared a ban on female education. She sought refuge in Iran to pursue her education further. As she was on the brink of graduation, conflict erupted. Forced by circumstances, she had to abandon her aspirations and home once again.
‘The emotional toll of this displacement was immensely draining. Here I was, on the cusp of earning my bachelors, deliberating my career path,’ she narrates. ‘Then there’s a war, and you are compelled to return to a nation you fled from. It cut us to the quick.’ The UNHCR projects that the inflow of returnees shall climb to 3 million Afghans by year end, should the current trend persist.
Back in Tehran, inside the confines of her apartment, Barakzai attempts to venture outside as minimally as possible in an effort to avert forceful deportation. Amidst the dwindling hope for reconciliation and an air of uncertainty, Afghan refugees continue to live each day in half-lived realities, grappled by the fear of an impending void.
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