The situation in Afghanistan

Millions of undocumented migrants have been deported to Afghanistan

More than a million Afghans have been deported back to their homeland from Iran and Pakistan this year, the UN refugee agency UNHCR says, according to the BBC. In the past three years, this has been six million people.

“We have never seen returns on this scale,” says Charlie Goodlake, spokesman for UNHCR in Afghanistan.

Both neighboring countries have tightened measures against undocumented migrants in recent years. They claim that they pose a security risk and some are described as an economic burden.

Many of those who are now returning have never set foot in Afghanistan, which is now ruled by the Taliban.

Sarwar was forced to leave: "I was devastated"

Many of the millions of undocumented Afghans who have been expelled from Pakistan and Iran have not set foot in their homeland for decades - if at all. This is reported by the BBC.

Sarwar fled Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s and several of his brothers were born in Pakistan.

- We have lived here for a long time, so I was of course devastated when they forced us out of our home.

He says that he is also relieved, because he no longer has to endure harassment from Pakistani police.