Iranian Deportations Raise Fears of Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan

Iranian Deportations Raise Fears of Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The arrival of close to 100,000 deported Afghan migrants from Iran over the past month has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in a country already strained by poverty, corruption and a robust insurgency in its southern and eastern provinces.

Iran says the mass expulsion is targeting only those Afghans working illegally and plans to forcibly remove one million people by next March. But there are reports some migrants have been deported in spite of having proper documentation; others have allegedly been beaten, split up from their families and whisked away without any personal belongings.

"We lost everything and my husband has no job to come back to," Marzia Mohammadi, a young mother of infant twins who crossed the border and traveled to Kabul.

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