Fearing Coronavirus, Afghan Migrants Return Home from Iran

The International Organization for Migration says that at least 19,562 illegal immigrants, who had gone to Iran from Afghanistan, have returned home over the past week. The reason was the coronavirus outbreak in Iran and the increasing number of deaths.

Given Afghanistan's concern that the virus could be transmitted into the country, many of its citizens who had also wanted be smuggled into Iran have given up the idea. In these circumstances, they consider traveling to Iran a "gamble" with their lives.

Ziaoldin is a 25-year-old youth who, like many Afghans, decided to illegally move to Iran, to work and earn a living to escape poverty. He traveled from a remote town to Kabul, to to the border town of Nimrouz to find a smuggler to get into Iran. When he arrived in Kabul, news of the coronavirus outbreak had gone global and discouraged him from continuing his journey.

The young man, who has now opted for living in difficult conditions with economic problems in Afghanistan instead of traveling to Iran, had returned from an earlier trip to Iran only four months ago, to visit his family.

“There are many problems in Afghanistan,” Ziaoldin said. “No work, no security. The Taliban have destroyed Afghanistan. If we don't go to Iran to work, we have nothing to eat in Afghanistan. People are not happy to go to Iran. They just go there to earn a living. But now with the arrival of coronavirus, people can no longer go there."

Ziaoldin is head of an eight-person household. He is deeply concerned that if the health situation does not improve in Iran, affording a loaf of bread for many like him will be "almost impossible."

He had previously provided for his family by working in Iran. Although the workers' situation had deteriorated in the past two years, with the fall of Iran's currency exchange rate, Ziaoldin was still able to take care of his family’s basic needs.

But Ziaoldin says Iran does not care about Afghan immigrants.

“If I go to Iran and contract coronavirus, I may die, because I have neither money for medicine nor hospital care, nor does the Iranian government pay attention to immigrants. Better to wait and find a job in Kabul. If nothing is found here, I will go back to my province."

Mohammad Saber is another Afghan citizen who has also given up on traveling to Iran. He is 32 and has been in northern Afghanistan for six years and had come to Kabul to be smuggled into Iran. He is responsible for a family of 10 and is the sole breadwinner. He has two boys, 9 and 7, who go to school. Saber also looks after the family of his brother, who was killed two years ago. His brother served in the Afghan army.

When Saber left his family to be smuggled into Iran, he had no knowledge of the coronavirus outbreak. He had no money for a passport or visa. Illegal travel was the least expensive option. This is because the smugglers are paid when they arrive at the destination. Saber was planning to pay for the trip through friends in Iran.

But in Kabul, the Afghan capital, rumors and stories about the coronavirus outbreak and media activity made him realize what a threat it could pose. "It is difficult to cross the border because of Iran's strict measures due to the outbreak. And if the border police arrest us inside Iranian territory, they will harass us. Iran has always blamed the Afghans. I have even heard that Iran has said that the Afghans have brought the coronavirus to Iran."

Recently, photos from the Iranian News Channel of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, with the caption "People with coronavirus in Qom are from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China", circulated on social media, and have been criticized by Afghan citizens. The first case of coronavirus in Afghanistan came a week after Iranian media reported the virus had entered Qom. The first case in Afghanistan was a person who had fled Iran.

Many believe that fake news from the Islamic Republic's media will exacerbate discriminatory attitudes among Iranians toward Afghan immigrants and make their living conditions in Iran even worse than before.

Mohammad Saber has also heard about these issues at a Kabul inn and is even more determined not to travel to Iran.

The Eslam-Ghaleh border in Herat city, one of the busiest crossing points on the Afghan route into Iran, was blocked for a day and reopened after 24 hours.

Shabnam Sultanzadeh was another would-be Afghan traveler to Iran. She wanted to travel to Iran with her family to attend her cousin's wedding, but after the outbreak, they abandoned the trip. Shabnam's cousin's wedding was scheduled to take place in Qom, with some family members also traveling to Iran from Austria. But now the event may be canceled due to coronavirus outbreak.

"It took us a week to find someone who would provide us with a land visa," Shabnam says. "We obtained each visa for 18,000 Afghanis [$247]. But now because of the coronavirus outbreak, we have given up. The rest of our family members who live in European countries have also been reluctant to attend. Even the groom's family, who came from Austria to Iran, are stuck there."

Along with those who have given up on legal and illegal travel to Iran, there is now growing concern that many Afghans who are returning to their country may carry the virus. The borders are open and movement between Afghanistan and Iran continues. Iran is also continuing to expel many Afghan immigrants from the country, as before. Coronavirus among Afghan citizens is expected to increase in the not too distant future.