When the Taliban overran the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif in August 2021, Aminullah Ranjbar, a police officer, said he had “no choice” but to flee with his family to Iran.
For the past three years, the Ranjbar family has lived in Tehran as undocumented refugees for fear of being deported to Afghanistan, where Aminullah's life is in danger.
“We know that many (former Afghan security officials) were killed by the ruling group in Afghanistan,” Ranjbar said.
Thousands of former Afghan security officers fled to Iran after the Taliban took power in mid-August 2021, fearing reprisals.
United Nations (UN) Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan/UNAMA) said it had documented “at least 60 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, 10 cases of torture and ill-treatment, verbal threats and at least five killings of former government officials and ANDSF members,” between April 1 and June 30, 2024.
The UN also noted that from 2021 to June 2023, at least 800 human rights violations occurred, including 218 arbitrary killings without due process, against government officials and security forces.
United Nations Office for Refugees (UNICEF)U.N. Refuge Agency/UNHCR) estimates that around one million Afghans fled to Iran after mid-August 2021. According to UNHCR, around 4.5 million of the refugees are Iranian citizens, but only 750,000 are registered as refugees.
Many Afghan refugees living in Iran share Aminullah Ranjibar’s sentiments. Shah Mahmood, a worker who has lived in Iran for the past five years, said, “I only go to work and then go back to the hostel. I am afraid to go anywhere.”
Mahmood told VOA the Iranian government's attitude toward Afghan refugees changed after the collapse of that government in July, forcing more refugees to flee to Iran.
“The harassment, detention and deportation of Afghan refugees has increased in the last three years,” he said, adding that “it has become increasingly difficult for Afghan refugees to live in Iran. However, we have given up hope of going back to Afghanistan because there is nothing left there.”
In a statement on Monday (5/8), The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Norway-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that reports on human rights violations in Iran, reported an increase in “anti-Afghan racism within social and government circles in Iran.”
Several videos showing the mistreatment of Afghan refugees in Iran have gone viral on social media. A video that went viral on Tuesday (August 6) showed Iranian police officers rounding up an Afghan teenage boy. VOA has not been able to verify the authenticity of the video.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials say undocumented foreigners should leave the country by the end of this year.
The Iranian government said in May that it had deported 1.3 million foreigners in one year, mainly Afghan refugees.
Former Afghan Ambassador to Iran Abdul Ghafoor Liwal told VOA Iran's policies toward refugees and Afghan rulers will not change.
“In general, expelling undocumented Afghans is Iran's policy. I don't think it will change. This area is not in the hands of the Iranian civilian government,” Liwal said.
Iran-Taliban Relations
Iran has cultivated close ties with the Taliban since the militant group seized power in mid-August 2021. It handed over the Afghan Embassy in Tehran to the Taliban in early 2023.
Abdul Ghafoor Liwal said “Iran’s policy towards Afghanistan is focused on security. Iran does not want to open a new front on its eastern border, while it is involved in various things in the Middle East.”
Fatemeh Aman, an Iran analyst at the Middle East Institute, agrees that Iran and the Taliban’s relationship is driven by security concerns. “Even this year, there are still terrorist attacks in Iran. Terrorists can enter the border in disguise,” she said.
Twin explosions in the Iranian city of Kerman in January killed at least 95 people. Iranian officials traced the attacks to Afghanistan's Khorasan province.
Fatemah Aman said the flow of migrants from Afghanistan is one of the important issues facing the Iranian regime.. (em/ft)
