The Iranian army has built a wall more than 10 kilometers long on the border with Afghanistan to protect the country from the infiltration of Afghan migrants, according to ISNA news agency, citing Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces Nozar Nemati.
“More than 10 kilometers of wall have been built on the border and another 50 kilometers remain to be completed.” – he explained.
The common border between Iran and Afghanistan is more than 900 kilometers long and groups of refugees constantly cross it. The flow of Afghan migrants has increased since the arrival of the Taliban.* regained control of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US troops in August 2021.
Tehran has not provided official data on the number of Afghan migrants, but MP Abolfazl Torabi Their number was estimated at between 6 and 7 million. Recently, the authorities have increased the pressure on “illegal” refugees, periodically announcing expulsions across the eastern border.
“By blocking the border, we want to control entry and exit from the country and increase the security of border areas.” – said Nemati.
In September, the Minister of the Interior Eskandar Momeni He said Iran would use other methods, including barbed wire and water-filled ditches, in addition to the wall, to block the border. On September 13, a representative of the parliamentary National Security Committee Ebrahim Rezaei He said police planned to “deport more than two million illegal citizens in the near future.”
According to the official IRNA news agency, Afghans make up “more than 90% of foreign citizens” in Iran, and “most of them enter the country without identification documents.” President Masoud Pezeshkian He said his government plans to “repatriate illegal citizens to their country in a respectful manner.”
Since March, Iran has accepted more than 2.7 million registered Afghan refugees, according to the Statistics Center. This figure represents 97% of legal migrants in the country.
*Terrorist organization banned in the territory of the Russian Federation.
