Afghan Refugees in Iran; Tehran-Kabul Cooperation to Resolve the Issue

The highest diplomatic member if Iranian administration visited Afghanistan a few weeks ago. After the Taliban seized control of the country four years ago, no Iranian official has visited Kabul.
The Iranian minister’s short trip to Afghanistan was intended to address diplomatically the ongoing conflicts along the two nations’ shared borderline, based on reports in Tehran. Araghchi also talked on the state of Afghan refugees in Tehran and other cities of Iran.
The visit’s agenda also included the contentious usage of the water supply in the Helmand River, which runs from Afghanistan territories into Iran. The Taliban regime is still not officially acknowledged by Tehran. However, it continues to have diplomatic ties with Afghanistan. Both the Afghan Embassy in Tehran, and the Iranian Embassy in Kabul are operational.
The precise number of Afghans residing in Iran at this point is uncertain. For forty years, the group has been escaping destitution, civil strife, and the rise of the Taliban in two periods.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, there are approximately three million of them in Iran. Officially, there are roughly 750,000 refugees. Additionally, there are about 500,000 immigrants who are granted limited work permits or temporary residency cards. Many more have entered Iran illegally and without documentation. They are frequently taken advantage of, laboring on building sites or in businesses on the outermost edges of big cities for pitiful pay. “I wished to protect my spouse and our five kids, so I rushed away to Tehran with them. However, they are also unable to attend classes here,” an Afghan immigrant in Iran states.
Last month, Iran’s envoy to the United Nations stated that around six million Afghan nationals live in Iran. The nation’s limited assets have been strained as a result. He said that Tehran was losing over ten billion dollars a year as a result. He said that the international society’s assistance was insufficient.
Afghans are often not treated very well in Iranian culture. Almost every day, there are headlines in the conventional media and messages on social media platforms about alleged violent refugees. People have also attacked them for allegedly burdening the healthcare sector. Bread and other subsidised food scarcity are attributed to refugees.
However, Tehran has endured a protracted recession for many years. The Afghan secretary for rehabilitation and refugees, declared, “We remain dedicated to the Afghans in Iran.” “It is imperative that refugees with legitimate documentation have the opportunity pursue education and legitimate job possibilities in Iran, he said.
However, the resources available for this help are unknown. Afghanistan is not ready for the repatriation of the large number of refugees from neighboring countries, according to Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. While visiting Afghanistan, Egeland encountered parents with little children who had come from Iran, unsure about whether they would make it, according to a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council. The main issues were an absence of job prospects and economic uncertainty.