Ghettoes, clashes and Afghanophobia: post-Taliban refugees in Iran

In the 18 months after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021, an estimated 1 million Afghans sought refuge and work in Iran, joining 2 million Afghan refugees already in the country. Since the Iranian government’s last headcount in 2022, young Afghan men have continued to cross the border in large numbers, and in 2024 the country’s interior minister now estimates the number of Afghans illegally in Iran at between 5 and 8 million, in a country with a total population of 89 million. 

Iran’s government has introduced new restrictions on Afghans inside the country, and is increasing expulsions. Iran’s interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, said on May 6 that the country had expelled more than 1.3 million Afghans in the last 12 months.

Afghan refugees have been fleeing to Iran since the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. While previous generations of Afghans, able to register officially as refugees or obtain long-term residency permits, attracted less public attention, the latest wave of arrivals since 2021, mostly young men with no papers, face a growing wave of “Afghanophobia”. 

'No Afghans allowed'

The Afghans who have arrived since 2021 have established their own cafés with Afghan music, restaurants serving Afghan dishes, and favourite hangout spots where they gather in their hundreds, such as at Tehran’s popular Lake Chitgar, or near the Azadi Tower in the west of the city.

The reaction of many Iranians has not been favourable. A simple search on Persian social media reveals a plethora of racist comments against Afghans. 

Signs saying “No Afghans allowed” have been seen at the entrance to parks and swimming pools. Local communities have called on landlords not to rent to Afghans, and complain about Afghan children attending Iranian schools. In October 2023, signs appeared in the city of Yazd saying that a local community meeting had made a decision: “No landlord is allowed to rent to foreigners.” In a country where Afghans are by far the biggest immigrant group, the term “foreigner” is widely used to refer to Afghans.

'There are too many Afghan immigrants in Iran'

Arman (not his real name), a middle-aged Iranian, expresses the fears and frustrations felt by many Iranians:

"I think there are too many Afghan immigrants in Iran now. I understand the severe issues in Afghanistan—like the Taliban, insecurity, and unemployment—but our country lacks the infrastructure to support millions of Afghan immigrants. The economic situation is already dire for us. The overpopulation of Afghans impacts our daily life. For instance, there are long queues at bakeries, many of whom are Afghans.”

Undocumented Afghans in Iran are not allowed to work. Surveys show that those who do find employment work in so-called "3D" jobs (dirty, difficult and dangerous).

"In some neighbourhoods, especially poor suburbs, schools are overcrowded with Afghan students, and many jobs are filled by illegal Afghan migrants. The deep cultural gap between Afghans and Iranians often leads to confrontations."

 

Official statistics show that 600,000 Afghan students are enrolled in Iranian schools, which is only 3.5 percent of the total 16.7 million students nationwide.

"Ten or twenty years ago, Afghan immigrants integrated better. Now, they find each other through social networks and organise large gatherings. For instance, at a lake in Tehran, you might see groups of young Afghans in traditional clothing, sometimes behaving provocatively, which scares people.”

'I haven’t dared to go outside for months'

Morteza (not his real name) is a 23-year-old Afghan immigrant who came to Iran in 2022. He shared his personal experiences:

"It's been more than two years since I moved to Iran. When the Taliban took Kabul, I decided to leave. Firstly, I was afraid of the Taliban; secondly, there was no work there, and I had to feed my whole family—my mother, my sisters, and my little brothers—so I had to come to Iran.

At first, I came here legally; I had a visa, but after a few months, they refused to renew my visa. So I have not had any documents for more than a year. I’m here illegally. They told me there are too many Afghans… They say we are responsible for the price increases in Iran, not the government!

Since the end of 2023, the Iranian government has tightened its policy towards us. There are many deportations and police patrols everywhere.

We used to meet up with other Afghan friends at Chitgar Lake or other places to have fun, but I have not dared to go outside for months. I just go to work and come straight back home.

Just two days ago, the police deported one of my friends to Afghanistan. They arrested him when he came back from the gym."

 

As our Observer reports, the Iranian authorities are stepping up the deportation of Afghans. The Taliban's immigration department claims that Iran deported 50 percent more Afghans in 2023 than in 2022. Many Iranian and Afghan media report incidents of torture, violence and humiliation during these deportations.

READ MORE: Investigation: videos reveal location of mass drowning on Iran-Afghan border

Politicians call for deportations and border wall

While Iran has for years provided social services including health and primary education to Afghan refugees, Iranian politicians have been restricting access to some services and in some cases calling for mass deportation.

In a move seen as targeting Afghans, the interior ministry in April announced that it was withdrawing access to some “social services” for foreign nationals living in Iran illegally. “Undocumented immigrants should leave the country”, said Ehsan Hayderi, head of the ministry’s foreign nationals department. 

Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliamentary speaker and a former Revolutionary Guard Corps general with close ties to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, promised during his 2024 presidential campaign to build a wall between Iran and Afghanistan.

And at a meeting with city councillors on May 28, the governor of Ray, a historic city on the outskirts of Tehran, called for a “war” on Afghan immigrants, saying: “Our top priority is to fight illegal immigrants. The fight with them is like the war [Iran’s 1980-88 war with Iraq], where people took up arms and defended the country.”

According to the UNHCR and some independent surveys, there are more than 4.5 million Afghan immigrants in Iran, of whom only 1.4 million have a residence permit in Iran, and the rest are undocumented. However, Iranian officials claim this number could be between 5 and 8 million.

'Go back to your country and gather like this'

Morteza sees the situation from a different perspective:

"Sometimes I’m scared of people. They insult us; they even harass us at work. The Iranians never mingle with us. The only friends I have are other Afghans who, like me, have only recently arrived. Even among the Afghans who have lived here for a long time, I do not know anyone.

When we were gathering somewhere in the city, it was all right if there were only two or three of us, but if there were more than, say, five or six of us, we got many angry looks, or many even said, ‘Go back to your country and gather like this.’

In the neighbourhood where we live, all our neighbours are Afghans. We are about 500 metres away from the neighbourhood where the Iranians live. We have everything: water, electricity, internet, a bakery, but we hardly ever cross paths with our Iranian neighbours.

I work in a small factory near Tehran. They pay me much less than an Iranian worker. I have no insurance; they do not pay social security contributions or bonuses that they pay to others, and I also have to deal with their daily racism. There is only one Iranian colleague who is a real gentleman. If I have a problem, I go directly and only to him."

 

While there are no statistics on the involvement of Afghan migrants in criminal activities in Iran, increasing media coverage has led to more racist attacks, more calls for mass deportation, and even street battles between Iranians and Afghans. One of the most recent incidents occurred on June 26, when a mob attacked an Afghan shopkeeper in southern Tehran. He was accused of raping a 12-year-old girl. The angry crowd refused to disperse until anti-riot police units intervened.

Afghan immigrants are increasingly stigmatised as Taliban sympathisers, rapists, or opium smugglers, which has fueled the rise of Afghanophobic sentiment in Iran.

'There are good and bad Iranians, the same applies to Afghans'

Morteza says:

"God forbid if an Afghan does something bad in Iran… Insults and harassment are on the rise, even if an Afghan immigrant does something wrong in other countries like Germany and the media report on it. There are good and bad people everywhere… There are good Afghans and bad ones. I don’t understand why the Iranians say they are afraid of the Afghans... That’s like saying that all Iranians are bad and racist, especially in my own experience. But that’s not true. There are good and bad Iranians, the same goes for Afghans."

"The situation is really not good, but I have no other choice. I am the only breadwinner of my family. The passage between Iran and Turkey has become difficult to pass, and the human traffickers demand too much money for me to go to Europe. I only hope that the situation in my country will improve and that I can go back."

 

 

While the common situation of Afghan immigrants in Iran seems similar to Morteza's, a fraction of Afghan immigrants who have been born or raised in Iran experience a somewhat different reality.

'It’s trendy to have an Afghan girlfriend'

The flow of Afghan immigrants to Iran began in 1979 after the USSR invaded Afghanistan. The second wave of mass immigration occurred when the USSR withdrew from Afghanistan and bloody civil wars broke out in 1988. The third wave of refugees sought asylum in Iran in 1996, when the Taliban managed to push back other factions and occupy Kabul. The next influx came in 2001, following the US invasion of Afghanistan. The most recent and fifth wave of mass immigration began in 2021 when the US withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban reoccupied the country.

Rahiba (not her real name), who immigrated to Iran with her parents 20 years ago, shared her perspective:

"Personally, I've never had a bad experience. I studied, started my own online shop, and have good friends in both the Iranian and Afghan communities. I grew up here, so I feel more Iranian than Afghan. However, I notice the increasing media reports on crimes by Afghans and the racist online comments. Most conflicts seem to occur among poor people from both communities, in my opinion. In poorer areas with less infrastructure, opportunities, and education, there is more conflict, often involving Afghans.

In wealthier, more educated circles, Iranians accept Afghans better. It’s even trendy to have an Afghan girlfriend in these circles. My boyfriend is Iranian. I believe recent tensions are mainly due to new, poorer immigrants. These young men, uneducated and conservative, often struggle to adapt to city life and societal norms in Iran. They’ve had to be rough to survive in Afghanistan, and that mindset clashes with the need for tolerance here. Many of them have immigrated from rural villages in Afghanistan and are seeing a city for the first time here in Iran. Most of them have never talked to a woman other than their mother or sisters, so it’s hard for them to cope."

 

While Rahiba feels it’s on the young Afghan men to try to fit in, Morteza has a different view:

"I am neither married nor do I have a girlfriend, and I think there’s no need to say the Iranian girls ignore us completely. But it’s painful or ridiculous for me personally that even the Afghan girls here ignore us. They just want a comfortable life, so they are looking for rich boyfriends. That means mostly Iranians or Afghans who are raised here and have life… Nobody looks at a poor Afghan worker."