Husseini, 31, decided to flee. Through areas of illegal plains, she and her two young children hiked on foot, on a motorcycle and in a truck until they reached Iran. As Afghanistan plunges into economic crisis following the withdrawal of US troops and the takeover of power by the Taliban, the 960-kilometer border with Iran became a lifeline for Afghans piled on top of smuggled money and smuggled goods. work. But in recent weeks, crossing the desert, a dangerous corner of the world, has become a growing source of tension as an estimated 5,000 Afghans cross it every day and neighbors – old enemies who trade fuel, share water and have a tortured history – navigate an increasingly charged relationship. In recent weeks, clashes have broken out between the Taliban and Iranian border guards. Afghans protest against Iran in three cities. Protesters hurled stones and set fire to an Iranian consulate. A deadly knife spree, carried by an Afghan immigrant, in the holiest temple in Iran shocked the country. Political analysts say that while both nations do not want an escalation, long-running hostilities are in danger of spiraling out of control. “You have one of the worst refugee crises in the world, simmering at a daily rate and with historical hostility,” said Andrew Watkins, senior fellow at Afghanistan at the United States Institute of Peace. “There will be earthquakes.” The dangers are personal to Afghans crossing the border like Husseini. Since the Taliban invasion, Iran has escalated the deportation of Afghan migrants, according to the UN Immigration Service, warning that its sanctions-hit economy could not handle the influx. In the first three months of this year, Iran’s deportations increased by 60% each month, said Ashley Carl, deputy head of the agency’s mission in Afghanistan. Many of the 251,000 who returned from Iran this year carry the scars and signs of a painful journey, he said, surviving road accidents, shootings and other hardships. The story goes on Roshangol Hakimi, a 35-year-old who fled to Iran after the Taliban occupation, said the smugglers held her and her 9-year-old daughter hostage for a week until her relatives paid a ransom. “They fed us contaminated water and hard, stale bread,” he said. “We were dying.” The lucky ones land in the patchwork of Tehran, crammed into narrow and crowded alleys. Iran estimates that at least one million Afghans have sought refuge in the country in the past eight months. Like many, Husseini lives in a legal vacuum, vulnerable to harassment and exploitation. Her boss in the tailor refuses to pay her salary. Her owner threatens to evict her. She can barely raise enough cash to feed her children. “We have nothing and nowhere to go,” he said from a narrow room in southern Tehran, furnished only with a donated gas heater, chairs and some velvet blankets. As more Afghans arrive, helping them becomes more difficult. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh lamented last month that “waves of displaced Afghans cannot continue in Iran” because “Iran’s capabilities are limited.” Youth unemployment in Iran is over 23%. Iran’s currency, the rial, has shrunk to less than 50% of its value since 2018. “The biggest challenge is that Iran is not ready for the new refugee situation,” said Tehran-based political analyst Rea Ghobeishavi of growing friction between Afghans and Iranians. Iran has become more concerned as a series of bloody attacks in Afghanistan targeting the country’s Hazara Shiite minority makes it clear that extremist threats are multiplying despite the Taliban’s promises to provide security. “There are reports that some extremists are easily entering Iran with refugees,” said Abbas Husseini, a prominent Afghan journalist in Tehran, describing the growing paranoia in Iran. Last month, Iran’s holiest Shiite shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad was turned into a massacre site when a perpetrator stabbed three clerics, killing two – a rare act of violence in the group. The perpetrator was identified in the media as an Afghan national of Uzbek nationality. In the days that followed, a wave of videos capturing Afghan refugees flooded Iranian social media. Unable to confirm its authenticity, the clichéd clips – footage showing Iranians insulting and beating Afghans – have been dismissed as misleading in Iran, but have made headlines in Afghanistan, angering public opinion. Protesters hurled stones at the Iranian consulate in the western city of Herat and protested at the Iranian embassy in Kabul. “Stop killing Afghans,” protesters in the Afghan capital begged. “Death to Iran,” shouted crowds in Herat and the southeastern province of Khost. Iran suspends all diplomatic missions to Afghanistan for 10 days. Even when the gate of his consulate was simmering, the Iranian special envoy for Afghanistan was diverted. Hassan Kazemi Qomi has blamed escalating tensions on a vague “enemy” seeking to overthrow relations. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has expressed concern to the Iranian ambassador. “The mistreatment of Afghan refugees in Iran is negatively affecting relations between the two countries … allowing rivals to conspire,” Muttaqi was quoted as saying. His cautious tone betrays a troubled story. In 1998, Iran almost started a war against the Taliban, after 10 of its diplomats were killed when they stormed their consulate in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. But after the US-led invasion, Tehran’s Shiite leaders became wary of a US military presence on their doorstep and took a more realistic stance on the Sunni militant group. Now, analysts say, with the two nations cut off from the global banking system and starving for cash, they have become dependent on each other. Neither of them wants to see the tension increase further. “Through its neighbors, Iran can bring down sanctions, exchange currency, exchange and keep its economy alive,” said Sanam Vakil, deputy director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program. But neighbors were about to be hit last week when Taliban guards tried to open a new road across the border. The Iranian guards were put on alert. The vital passage is closed. Aware of the risks, countries are actively pursuing diplomacy. Last week, Khatibzadeh promised that Tehran would accredit Taliban diplomats for the first time to help handle consular affairs. Taliban officials visited the capital to discuss the treatment of Afghan refugees by Iran. Many of those refugees fleeing Afghanistan’s repression and impoverishment have humble dreams: to work as construction workers, factory workers and farmers in Iran. Others, like Hakimi’s 9-year-old daughter Jasmine, hope to continue in Europe. Imagine Germany. Her father, a policeman killed by the Taliban in Logar province, instilled in her the importance of education, she said. “We do not want to have a bad future,” said Jasmine, from her dilapidated Tehran apartment. “We want to become literate people, like my father.”
DeBre reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
