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Tehran governor says 1.4 million Afghans deported in six months
Many returnees arrive with very few belongings; some are exhausted, traumatized, or in need of urgent assistance.
Tehran’s governor, Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian, has announced that around 1.4 million undocumented Afghan nationals have been deported from Iran in the past six months, since the start of the Persian year.
Motamedian said the large-scale removals have freed up more than 3,000 classrooms and contributed to a 30–35 percent drop in rental prices, easing pressure on Tehran’s already strained housing and education sectors. He added that a second phase of deportations would begin this week, aimed at what he described as a “comprehensive resolution” of the issue of illegal foreigners.
Iran has hosted millions of Afghans since the early 1980s, when the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan triggered one of the region’s largest refugee movements.
Over the decades, successive waves of conflict—including civil war, Taliban rule, the U.S.-led intervention, and now ongoing instability under the Islamic Emirate—have kept Afghans crossing into Iran in search of safety and work.
According to the UN, Iran currently hosts over three million Afghans, many of them without legal status. While Iranian authorities have repeatedly emphasized the burden on public services, international organizations have expressed concern over the humanitarian impact of mass deportations, particularly as Afghanistan struggles with widespread poverty, food insecurity, and limited capacity to absorb returnees.
The vast number of returning refugees has however impacted Afghanistan’s local systems, which have come under severe strain. Services, such as housing, healthcare, and food) in border provinces are now overstretched.
Many returnees arrive with very few belongings; some are exhausted, traumatized, or in need of urgent assistance.
There is meanwhile growing concern among organizations that unless funding increases the humanitarian situation could worsen further – especially as winter looms.
IOM reports that over 1.5 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Iran alone since the start of 2025.
Last month, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that over four million Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran since September 2023. So far this year the total is over 2.3 million combined from the two countries.
Some sources put the number for both countries combined even higher. For example, one IOM update last week states the total in two years has been 2.7 million returns from Iran and Pakistan.
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Afghanistan says Pakistani military post destroyed near Spin Boldak
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense says a Pakistani military post near Spin Boldak was targeted and destroyed after Pakistani forces opened fire toward Afghanistan.
Ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Khwarazmi said in a post on X that Afghan forces suffered no casualties or damage in the clash.
Khwarazmi also rejected claims made by the Pakistani side about the incident, describing them as “propaganda.”
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Mujahid: Pakistan attacking Afghanistan to evade Mecca Pact responsibilities
He warned that the Islamic Emirate would give an “appropriate response” to what he called the Pakistani military regime’s “bullying.”
Islamic Emirate spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has accused Pakistan of carrying out attacks on Afghanistan to divert attention from its domestic problems and to evade responsibilities under the “Mecca Pact.”
Speaking at a religious seminary in Kandahar, Mujahid said Pakistan was facing political and economic challenges at home and was using attacks on Afghanistan to shift public attention away from protests and its internal problems.
“Pakistan, by violating the territory of its neighboring Islamic country, wants to divert attention from its failures,” he said.
Mujahid also criticized Pakistan’s political situation, claiming that political space had been restricted and that freedoms guaranteed under the country’s laws were not being allowed.
He said Pakistan’s economic problems had also increased significantly and accused the country of seeking to distract the public from those problems by engaging in conflict with Afghanistan.
Mujahid further accused Pakistan’s military leadership of putting the Pakistani people at risk through what he described as its “false position.”
He warned that the Islamic Emirate would give an “appropriate response” to what he called the Pakistani military regime’s “bullying.”
His remarks followed Pakistani airstrikes on Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces on Thursday, which Afghan authorities said killed four civilians.
The strikes came three days after attacks on Kunar and Paktika provinces, in which Afghan authorities said three civilians were killed.
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Kabul rejects U.S. claim that meth seized in Pakistan was of Afghan origin
Balkhi said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed an absolute ban on the production, trafficking and use of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi has rejected a U.S. claim that 463 kilograms of synthetic drugs seized in Pakistan were of Afghan origin, calling the attribution “unfounded and politically motivated.”
Balkhi said the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad should investigate the origin of the seized drugs in Pakistan rather than attributing them to Afghanistan.
“The attribution by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad of the synthetic drugs bound for Sri Lanka and intercepted in Pakistan through joint U.S.-Pakistani efforts as ‘Afghan-origin’ is an unfounded and politically motivated allegation,” Balkhi said.
He said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed an absolute ban on the production, trafficking and use of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Balkhi also claimed that following the ban in Afghanistan, the cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics have increased “on the other side of the Durand Line.”
He further argued that Afghanistan does not have the capacity to produce synthetic drugs and said crossing points along the Durand Line have been completely closed to all movement for nearly a year.
His remarks came after the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said U.S. and Pakistani anti-narcotics authorities had seized 463 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine worth an estimated $21 million and bound for Sri Lanka.
The embassy said the operation led to multiple arrests and highlighted ongoing U.S. cooperation and training with Pakistani authorities to disrupt international drug-trafficking networks.
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