TEHRAN – At a recent meeting between Afghanistan’s deputy refugee minister and the repatriation and the South Asian Director of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, the Taliban called for a joint meeting with Tehran to address the situation of Afghan immigration.
According to a report on Saturday, Afghanistan’s representative refugee minister, Morawi Abdul Kabir, met with Mohammad Reza Bahrami and his companion delegation in Kabul. During the meeting, Abdul Kabir highlighted the deep historic ties between the two countries and expressed his appreciation for Iran’s decades of hospitality for Afghan immigrants. He also called for continued Islamic compassion in Iran’s treatment of these migrants.
Taliban officials noted that Kabul is implementing a plan for the voluntary return of Afghan refugees, revealing that 46 residential towns are currently under construction and are dealing with returnees.
In response, Balami recognized Iran’s presence in the presence of millions of Afghan citizens. Many of them lack legal documents. He emphasized the need for greater cooperation between the two countries to address the ongoing challenges and expanded the official invitation to the representative minister to visit Tehran.
Iranian diplomats also welcomed the Afghan housing initiative and described it as a positive step to promote the voluntary return of immigrants to their homelands.
Iran’s Islamic Republic hosts one of the world’s largest and longest-running refugee groups, most of which are Afghan refugees.
The country is home to over 800,000 registered refugees and approximately 2.6 million undocumented Afghans. Today, more than half a million Afghan children, including undocumented Afghans, benefit from Iran’s comprehensive education policy, one of the most progressive in the world.
If the international community is responsible and refrains from fair sharing of the burden of hosting refugees, Iran’s Islamic Republic will likely amend its immigration policy, said Nader Yalmadi, a national immigration agency employee.