Iran walls off part of border with Afghanistan: state media

Asfandyar Bhittani

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Iran’s military has built a wall along more than 10 kilometres of its eastern border with Afghanistan, the main entry point for immigrants, local media reported Monday.

More than 10 kilometres of walls have been built on the border and another 50 kilometres are ready to be walled off,ISNA news agency said, citing General Nozar Nemati, deputy commander of army ground forces.

Iran shares a more than 900km border with Afghanistan, and the Islamic republic hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world.

This comprises mostly well-integrated Afghans who arrived over the past 40 years after fleeing conflict in their home country.

The flow of Afghan immigrants has increased since the Taliban took over in August 2021 after US forces withdrew.

Tehran has not given official figures for the number of Afghan immigrants, but member of parliament Abolfazl Torabi has estimated their number at “between six and seven million”.

The authorities have recently increased pressure on “illegal” refugees, regularly announcing expulsions through the eastern border.

By blocking the border, we want to control the country’s entries and exits” and “better increase the security of border areas”, General Nemati said.

In September, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said Iran would employ other methods including barbed wire and water-filled ditches in addition to the wall to block the border.

On September 13, the spokesman for the parliamentary National Security Committee, Ebrahim Rezaei, said police plan to “expel more than two million illegal citizens in the near future”.

According to the official IRNA news agency, Afghanis represent “more than 90 percent of foreign nationals” in Iran, and “most of them enter the country without identity papers”.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his government plans to “repatriate illegal nationals to their country in a respectful manner”.

In the year starting in March 2023 Iran hosted more than 2.7 million documented Afghan refugees, according to the Statistics Centre.

That figure represents 97 per cent of legal migrants in the country.
 
10KM wall on 900KM border. What a joke.

If US cannot stop 100K/month illegal immigrants coming into its country with its massive wall and resources and technology, what hope does Iran have?

Wall won’t do anything. Taliban needs to actively patrol their own border.
 
Wall won’t do anything. Taliban needs to actively patrol their own border.
No incentive for them to do so, but the opposite.

Anyway, as an Iranian, what's the situation with afghan migrants in Iran and new Governments policy. How serious are they in terms of repatriation?
 
No incentive for them to do so, but the opposite.

Anyway, as an Iranian, what's the situation with afghan migrants in Iran and new Governments policy. How serious are they in terms of repatriation?

Pretty serious. The public has had enough. There is active rounding up of illegal immigrants and deportation happening.

There is also an unfortunate rise of xenophobia towards Afghans.

It remains to be seen if Iran has any luck doing what US failed to do with its own illegal immigration. Iran doesn’t have the resources or funds to put a major dent in this.

However, If society shuns cheap Afghan labor than the afghans will be forced to return home on their own will.
 
Pretty serious. The public has had enough. There is active rounding up of illegal immigrants and deportation happening.

There is also an unfortunate rise of xenophobia towards Afghans.

It remains to be seen if Iran has any luck doing what US failed to do with its own illegal immigration. Iran doesn’t have the resources or funds to put a major dent in this.

However, If society shuns cheap Afghan labor than the afghans will be forced to return home on their own will.
Here in Pakistan, illegal Afghans migrants (not counting UNHCR registered refugees even though same applies to them) have set up settlements on state owned lands. If you have read up on last year expulsion, you might have read about "They removed evicted us from our houses and business and we didn't have enough time to sell them" complaint, even though they legally can't own any property in Pakistan to begin with.

How do these illegals in Iran usually live? In cities renting, or concentrated in the suburbs and occupying state lands?
 
Here in Pakistan, illegal Afghans migrants (not counting UNHCR registered refugees even though same applies to them) have set up settlements on state owned lands. If you have read up on last year expulsion, you might have read about "They removed evicted us from our houses and business and we didn't have enough time to sell them" complaint, even though they legally can't own any property in Pakistan to begin with.

How do these illegals in Iran usually live? In cities renting, or concentrated in the suburbs and occupying state lands?
I'm sure you are just as vehemently opposed to and condemn in equal derision Pakistani migrants in Europe and beyond.
 
I'm sure you are just as vehemently opposed to and condemn in equal derision Pakistani migrants in Europe and beyond.
Illegal migrants, Fake refugees/asylum seekers, YES. How about you?

Hell, send even those with valid visas back. We need to reverse the brain drain.
 

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