Return to Afghanistan?: a study of Afghans living in Tehran

This paper explores the experiences and livelihoods of Afghan migrants living in Iran. It aims to increase understanding of transnational migration as a key livelihood strategy in the regional context.

As a result of Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan some 2.6 million documented Afghan migrants settled in Iran during the 1980s. The withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, but the subsequent ten years of war 1991-2001 saw another huge wave of migration - both labour and forced - from Afghanistan to Iran. Due to domestic social and economic concerns, since the 1990’s Iranian refugee policy shifted to emphasise prevention and repatriation. In 2003, under the interim authority in Kabul, the Iranian government signed an agreement with Afghanistan installing domestic legislation aimed to accelerate repatriation from Iran by raising the cost of living for Afghan nationals. There has been substantial repatriation of Afghans (both voluntary and involuntary) back to Afghanistan.

However, it is also against this backdrop that over one million documented Afghan migrants and as many as 500, 000 undocumented single transitory Afghan labour migrants choose to remain in Iran. Advocates have begun to revise ways of understanding the migrant community in Iran and the issue of repatriation; paying especial attention to the different experiences of people designated as migrants, asylum seekers or refugees. As part of this advocacy this research forms a case study of Afghans living in Tehran. It focuses on two groups: permanently settled households and transitory labour migrants. A structured questionnaire provides contrastive data from the two groups.

The methodology involved a respondent group of 50 households and fifteen labour migrants to explore:

• how respondents perceive their livelihood and other prospects in the event of returning to Afghanistan or remaining in Iran
• participation in and function of regional and transnational networks
• processes of decision-making
• respondents’ current intentions in relation to returning or remaining in the medium term.

The paper looks at the role of both transnational as well as local networks in determining migrant livelihood strategies in Iran. It documents migrant perceptions of life and economic opportunity in Afghanistan. Comparison is made between the two groups as to how migration affects social networks, remittances and perceptions surrounding their social and economic opportunities in Afghanistan.