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Norwegian aid group says thousands of Afghans crossing into Iran daily
As many as 4,000-5,000 Afghans have been crossing into Iran daily since the collapse of the former government in August and hundreds of thousands more are expected to arrive in the coming winter, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Wednesday.
The aid group said as many as 300,000 Afghans have crossed the border since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) took control.
The NRC called for more international support for Iran, which is grappling with a deep economic crisis of its own.
“Iran cannot be expected to host so many Afghans with so little support from the international community,” NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland said in a statement.
“There must be an immediate scale up of aid both inside Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries like Iran, before the deadly winter cold.”
The abrupt end to international support and the freezing of Afghan central bank assets held abroad has pushed the country close to economic collapse, raising fears of a refugee crisis similar to the 2015 exodus from Syria that shook Europe.
Iran and Pakistan together house about 90% of the five million Afghans displaced outside their country, although not all of these are counted as refugees.
“We commend Iran for welcoming and hosting millions of displaced Afghans for the past four decades. But now the international community must step up to support Afghanistan’s neighbours,” Egeland said.
UN agencies say as many as 22.8 million people – more than half of Afghanistan’s 39 million population – are facing acute food insecurity, compared to 14 million just two months ago.
Pakistan’s Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Friday met with UK’s Minister of State for International Development and Africa, Baroness Chapman of Darlington, to discuss a range of issues, including the relocation of Afghan nationals to the United Kingdom.
According to a press release from Pakistan’s Ministry of State for Interior, Baroness Chapman welcomed and commended Pakistan’s initiatives in facilitating migration cooperation between the two countries.
The officials also held talks on security matters.
Maulawi Abdul Kabir, Afghanistan’s Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, has stressed that Afghan refugees are not a burden on host countries, but rather make meaningful economic contributions.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony at a religious school in Paktia, he said that any assistance provided by host countries to Afghan refugees in the past was driven by their own interests.
“Afghans earn their own livelihoods; they own factories and shops,” he said. “No country in the world can claim that Afghans are a burden. Did Afghans go door to door asking for handouts? Did they engage in theft? Host countries collect taxes from Afghans and use that revenue to develop their own economies.”
Maulawi Abdul Kabir urged Afghan migrants to return home and resume their economic activities freely.
“We call on investors abroad: if you are living without dignity, return and invest in Afghanistan willingly,” he said. “Rehabilitate land, expand agriculture, create jobs for the people, and help make wheat cheaper.”
His remarks come amid ongoing calls by some neighboring countries for the return of Afghan migrants, often portraying them as a burden on host societies.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan, has announced that Tashkent and Ashgabat have coinciding approaches to facilitate the peaceful development of Afghanistan.
Speaking on Friday at the International Forum on Peace and Trust in Ashgabat, Mirziyoyev said that Afghanistan’s development can be achieved by integrating the country into regional economic processes and strengthening infrastructure connectivity.
At the conference, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan, also referred to the establishment of a United Nations regional center for the Sustainable Development Goals in Almaty and emphasized the continuation of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
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