Iran and Pakistan | Back to Afghanistan: A child every 30 seconds

Around two million people have returned to Afghanistan in recent months, or rather, have been expelled and deported. In most cases, one cannot speak of return, as many of the deported Afghans were born and raised in Iran or Pakistan, and thus know their "homeland" only by hearsay or from the media.

"They don't look like the people in Kabul, they wear Western clothing, and they are often well-educated," Arafat Jamal, representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Afghanistan, recently told the news channel Al-Jazeera when he saw the people deported from Iran at the border. Almost none of them came to Afghanistan voluntarily, to a country that has seen 45 years of war, where the Islamist Taliban movement has regained power and human rights are being trampled upon.

"After four years of Taliban rule, a repressive legal system prevails that not only deviates far from international human rights standards, but has also undone almost two decades of progress," says Theresa Bergmann of Amnesty International in Germany. No one is safe from persecution in such a system, which relies solely on fear and oppression. "Anyone here can face torture."

Fatma H., who wishes to remain anonymous to "nd," knows the dramatic living situation of many families only too well. She lives with her husband and two daughters, ages four and eight, in the western Afghan province of Herat, near the border with Iran, where her husband used to work. Without the support of the German NGO "Help – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe," the situation would be even more difficult. She receives money to buy food and hygiene kits.

"Our lives used to be completely different," she tells the "nd" newspaper. Today, the economic situation is catastrophic: "There's no work, food prices are constantly rising, and rents are unaffordable." It's especially hard for single women and families without social networks. Many have to marry off their daughters early to pay the rent.

Her husband previously worked in Iran but is now unemployed. The family can barely afford the bare necessities; "We can't even buy oil or meat," she says. She witnessed how the refugees deported from Iran arrived in Afghanistan. "Many have no home, no family anymore—they live in tents, whether in Herat, Kabul, or even Mazar-e Sharif." Despite everything, she remains hopeful: "I'm like everyone else. I just want to live and provide for my family." She expresses gratitude for the support she receives and hopes for a better future for herself and her children.

But how realistic is that in a country that fell back into the hands of the Taliban exactly four years ago and has since suffered from massive cuts in humanitarian aid? "We are already facing a multitude of crises within Afghanistan: We have an economic crisis, we have natural disasters, and the effects of climate change. Kabul is expected to run out of water in the coming years," Samira Sayed Rahman, who works in Kabul as Advocacy Director for the international NGO Save the Children Afghanistan, told the "nd" newspaper.

And now another two million people have come from Iran and Pakistan . "Everywhere there is a park or vacant lot, we have seen informal settlements of people who have set up tents because they have nowhere else to go," Rahman describes. "We are very concerned about what the winter will bring for the children of Afghanistan, especially very concerned about the children now returning from Iran and Pakistan." Every 30 seconds, a child is sent from Iran or Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Following the cuts in US funding, which, according to aid organizations, accounted for more than 40 percent of total humanitarian funding for Afghanistan, a significant amount of money is now missing. 420 clinics in the country have been closed. "At least 2.4 billion US dollars will be needed to help the 22 million needy Afghans in 2025," Shafi Shirzad, country director of Herat-based Help, told the "nd" newspaper. The aid organization is therefore warning of a threatening escalation of the humanitarian crisis. Pakistan recently announced that it would resume its controversial deportation campaign of Afghan refugees starting in September. The third wave of deportations targets 1.3 million people, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Refugees told the German Press Agency. These are individuals whose UN-issued registration cards expired at the end of June and were not renewed by the government.

The government in Islamabad says it plans to deport three million Afghans in the long term. Pakistan began the mass deportation of unregistered Afghan refugees in November 2023. Since this year, registered refugees have also been expelled. According to official figures, more than one million people have already left the country.

Afghanistan is hopelessly overwhelmed by this situation, yet the German government still wants to deport Afghans and accredits consular staff for the Afghan embassy so they can process the paperwork for the deportation flights. However, the German government repeatedly states that it still does not want to recognize the Taliban regime. Not yet.

Involuntary returnees to Afghanistan can face imprisonment and torture, the UN mission in Kabul (UNAMA) reported in July. Journalists, activists, or people associated with the former, Western-backed government are particularly at risk. In the report, which is based on interviews with 49 people involuntarily deported to Afghanistan in 2024, UNAMA warns of a risk for certain groups of people. Former security forces and employees of the former government testified that since their involuntary return, they have been forced to go into hiding or constantly change their place of residence for fear of persecution. Others, according to UNAMA, spoke of threats, arbitrary arrests, and torture in detention. Is this what a safe country of origin looks like?

The human rights organization Amnesty International is particularly committed to the so-called local workers. Theresa Bergmann: "Interior Minister Dobrindt and Foreign Minister Wadephul must ensure that all Afghans granted admission to Germany are immediately issued with visas and can enter the country as quickly as possible. Several courts have now ruled that the German government must finally act, and that otherwise it will be acting unlawfully."