Bleak return for Afghan refugees

Afghan refugees returning from Iran waiting to be registered by government officials at a maze of tents and warehouses serving as a reception centre in Islam Qala, Afghanistan. — Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times

AT the sand-swept border between Iran and Afghanistan, nearly 20,000 people cross each day – shocked and fearful Afghans expelled from Iran with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Since January, more than 1.4 million Afghans have fled or been deported from Iran during a government clampdown on undocumented refugees, according to the United Nations.