More Afghans returning from Iran in 2017

Following a significant surge in the numbers of Afghans returning from Pakistan, a similar trend is now emerging with a large number of refugees coming back from Iran as well.

Just over 230,500 Afghans were deported from Iran this year so far, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in Kabul on Tuesday.

The international body -- headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland -- noted that just this week alone, 8,623 undocumented Afghans came back from Iran.

Almost 2,400 were spontaneous returnees, and 6,225 were deported, it stated.

Out of the total deportees, 652 individuals (10 percent) were organized in family groups.

A large number of deportees lacked proper documentation or had been seeking to travel across Iran and Turkey to Europe, but had been arrested by Iranian officials.

Hafeez Ahmad Miakhail, adviser for media affairs at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, told Anadolu Agency the number of repatriates from Iran is up 70 percent compared to those coming back from Pakistan.

He said the main reason for this is the fact that the Iranian government is not allowing Afghan refugees to extend their stay there.

The ministry official also said, at the moment, up to 13,000 refugees are returning every week from these two neighboring countries.

On the eastern side, the unprecedented outflow of Afghan refugees escaping growing persecution in Pakistan continues.

The IOM statistics suggest the total number of undocumented Afghan returnees from Pakistan since 1 Jan. 2017 has reached 83,337.