Nearly Half a Million Afghan Migrants Return from Iran

While Iran has been struggling with an economic crisis and a decline in the value of the rial in recent months, the International Organization for Migration has announced that nearly half a million Afghan migrants have returned to their home country this year. The organization states that 442,344 Afghan migrants returned to Afghanistan in the first seven months of 2018, with some doing so voluntarily and others being forcibly returned. France Press notes that this return has occurred amid Iran's economic turmoil, with the rial experiencing a continuous decline recently. The government of Hassan Rouhani announced new currency policies earlier this week aimed at combating rampant inflation of foreign currencies. However, just days after these policies were announced, the price of the US dollar in Iran's unofficial market rose again above 10,000 tomans. The depreciation of the rial has affected not only the lives of Iranians but also those of illegal Afghan migrants who left their country in hopes of finding jobs. The International Organization for Migration, based in Switzerland, reports that the number of Afghan migrants returning to Afghanistan in the first seven months of this year has doubled compared to the same period last year. Eva Schaeurer, a spokesperson for the organization in Herat, told France Press: 'The number of Afghans returning from Iran in 2018 is unprecedented.' According to her, 191,056 of these individuals returned voluntarily, while 251,288 were expelled from Iran. Syed Hussain Alami Balkhi, Afghanistan's Minister of Migration, told Radio Free Europe’s Dari service that 'those who have returned from Iran are all single individuals who are not very vulnerable in terms of finding work. These individuals went to Iran and have now returned, but if there are any vulnerable individuals among them, they will receive some assistance.' The International Organization for Migration states that this return has had a 'direct and immediate' impact on Afghanistan's economy, as many residents of Afghanistan relied on money sent by Afghan migrants from Iran. The organization’s recent report indicates that, given the re-imposition of sanctions against Iran, the return of Afghan migrants to Afghanistan is expected to continue. The US President signed an order on August 6 to reinstate the first phase of sanctions against Iran, which took effect on August 7. Radio Free Europe reported on August 8 that the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries stated that these sanctions would harm trade between Afghanistan and Iran. According to this report, trade between Iran and Afghanistan amounts to approximately $1.1 billion annually.