Afghanistan repatriates over 200 nationals from Iraq, Pakistan: Ministry
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Afghanistan has repatriated more than 200 of its nationals over the past week who had been imprisoned in Pakistan and Iraq, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said.
According to a ministry statement, 224 Afghan citizens who had been detained in Pakistani prisons for up to two months were returned to the country via the Spin Boldak border crossing in Kandahar province.
The statement also said that four Afghans who had been imprisoned in Iraq for three months were repatriated through the Pul-e-Abresham border crossing in Nimroz province.
The ministry did not disclose the reasons for the Afghans’ detention in either country.
The latest repatriations come just over a week after Afghanistan returned another 190 nationals from the two countries.
An estimated 10,000 Afghans are currently incarcerated abroad, the majority of them in Iran and Pakistan, according to a July report by Afghanistan’s foreign ministry.
Thousands of Afghans fled the country after the Taliban seized full control in August 2021 following two decades of conflict, with some ending up in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
The largest concentration of Afghan refugees is in neighboring countries, where they often face hostility amid worsening economic conditions.
Iran alone hosts around 3.5 million displaced Afghans, many of whom crossed the border during successive waves of migration triggered by major crises, including the Soviet invasion in 1979, the collapse of the Afghan government and rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, the US-led invasion in 2001, and the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
[Source: Rûdaw English]
