Pakistan deported about 4,800 Afghan migrants and Iran returned more than 1,100 others on Saturday, Dec. 13, the Taliban commission for refugees said, as large-scale expulsions from neighbouring countries continued.
According to the commission’s daily report, 860 families — about 4,780 people — crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan through the Spin Boldak crossing in Kandahar province, Torkham in Nangarhar and Bahramcha in Helmand.
The largest flow from Pakistan was through Torkham, where 533 families, or 2,934 people, were registered, the commission said. A further 256 families, or 1,430 people, entered through Spin Boldak, while 71 families, or 419 people, crossed via Bahramcha, it added.
From Iran, 53 families — about 208 people — returned through the Islam Qala crossing in Herat province and the Silk Road crossing in Nimroz, the commission said. It added that an additional 954 individual travellers also entered Afghanistan through Nimroz.
The commission said 137 families were transported onward from Spin Boldak to provinces including Kandahar, Herat, Zabul, Ghazni, Khost and Kabul, with cash provided to cover transport costs. Financial assistance totalling more than 2.1 million afghanis ($30,000) was distributed to 249 families, it said.
Pakistan and Iran have stepped up deportations of Afghans in recent months, drawing warnings from aid agencies that mass returns are straining Afghanistan’s fragile economy and limited public services.
