With the conquest of most of the country by the Taliban, many people have left their homes in Afghanistan.

Not only local workers are hoping to leave for the West.

But getting a visa or a flight now seems hopeless.

Those who can try overland or seek refuge in one of the few areas of Afghanistan that have not yet been conquered by the Islamists.

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Most of the refugees from Afghanistan live in Pakistan.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the southern neighbor has so far taken in 1.4 million Afghans.

The number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher.

Although the border to Pakistan has reopened after a brief closure, there are strict controls in place to prevent as many Afghans as possible from crossing.

Deportations from Iran

By the end of last year, 780,000 Afghan refugees were registered in Iran; It is estimated that the number of unregistered refugees could exceed two million. However, the Islamic Republic has had a rigorous deportation policy since January. Data from the International Organization for Migration show: As of August 5 this year, almost 702,000 people had been returned to Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, Tehran announced that it would close the eastern border to Afghans.

The government cited the stabilizing situation in Afghanistan and protective measures against Covid-19 as the reason.

This means that one of the most important stops in the west is no longer there.

In recent years, fences and patrol boats have made it increasingly difficult to get to the Balkan route and the European Union via Iran and Turkey.

So far, Germany has been the country that has taken in the third largest group with 181,000 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers.

A wall against refugees

Turkey wants to seal itself off from Iran with a militarily protected wall.

The first 64 kilometers should be finished by the end of 2021.

In a speech last Sunday, President Erdogan warned that Turkey was facing a growing wave of migrants from Afghans arriving via Iran.

Until recently, Turkey was still bringing tens of thousands of people back to Afghanistan in airplanes.

According to estimates by government officials and experts, between 500 and 2000 Afghans from Iran cross the 534-kilometer border into Turkey every day.

Four million refugees already live there, 130,000 of them Afghans, according to the UNHCR.

Media reports even speak of half a million Afghans who are currently in Turkey.

No help from the north

Afghanistan's northern neighbors also offer little refuge.

For example, Turkmenistan categorically refuses to accept refugees from Afghanistan.

The already isolated country even refuses to accept ethnic Turkmens.

Tajikistan, on the other hand, has announced that it will prepare for the arrival of 100,000 refugees.

But the Afghans who have been living in the country up to now are not being adequately cared for.

They regularly complain about poor access to health and educational facilities.

Uzbekistan still seems undecided.

Although the border was closed, even Afghans living in the country can no longer cross the Friendship Bridge over the Amu Darya River to Afghanistan.

However, a tent camp for around 150 refugees is said to have been set up in southern Uzbekistan.

Millions of internally displaced persons

Many Afghans do not even manage to leave their country.

They flee their hometowns to other regions.

According to UNHCR, the number of internally displaced persons has risen to 550,000 since January 2021 alone - 80 percent of them are women and children.

There are a total of 3.5 million displaced people in Afghanistan.

Not only they are threatened with a humanitarian catastrophe.

Around 12.2 million people are already affected by food insecurity.

Refugee organizations warn that an ongoing drought will add even more people, including millions of children.

The first large wave of refugees from Afghanistan began after the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1979. More than six million Afghans fled the fighting to Iran and Pakistan. Many returned after the Soviets withdrew, only to flee the turmoil of the Afghan civil war just a few years later. Hundreds of thousands went to Europe and the USA by the turn of the millennium.

After the Taliban were pushed back in 2001, many returned to their homeland. According to UNHCR, between 2002 and 2007 the organization assisted more than four million people returning from Pakistan and Iran. After an offshoot of the so-called “Islamic State” was created in Afghanistan and the economic situation deteriorated, Afghans again sought protection in the West. During the 2015 refugee crisis, Afghans were the largest group after Syrians to apply for asylum in Europe.