Tragedy at the Border: Three Afghan Migrants Die of Exposure While Attempting to Enter Iran

HERAT, Afghanistan – In a stark illustration of the desperate and perilous journeys undertaken by Afghan migrants, three individuals died from exposure to freezing temperatures this week while attempting to illegally cross into Iran from western Afghanistan. The incident underscores a mounting humanitarian crisis as deportations from neighboring countries surge and Afghanistan’s internal capacity to absorb returnees collapses.

The Incident
A local Afghan army official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity on Saturday, confirmed the deaths. “Three people who wanted to illegally cross the Iran-Afghanistan border have died because of the cold weather,” the official stated. The migrants were part of a group that attempted the crossing on Wednesday but were stopped by Afghan border forces.

Searches were launched on Wednesday night in the mountainous Kohsan district of Herat province, a common but treacherous smuggling route. The bodies were discovered on Thursday. In a separate but related tragedy, the official added that a shepherd was also found dead from the cold in the same remote, high-altitude area.

A Crisis of Forced Returns
This fatal journey occurs against a backdrop of massive, coerced repatriations. According to the latest data from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Iranian authorities have forced more than 1.8 million Afghans back to their homeland between January and the end of November 2025. The UNHCR has explicitly stated that the majority of these are “forced and coerced returns.”

In a statement on its Afghanistan situation portal, the agency warned that these “mass returns in adverse circumstances have strained Afghanistan’s already overstretched resources and services.” This strain, it noted, creates a vicious cycle, leading to “risks of onward and new displacement, including return movements back into Pakistan and Iran,” as returnees find survival in Afghanistan impossible.

International Condemnation and a Collapsing State
The policy of forced returns has drawn sharp international criticism. This week, Amnesty International called on all countries to halt forcibly returning people to Afghanistan, citing a “real risk of serious harm for returnees.” The warning points to a nation in profound distress on multiple fronts:

• Natural Disasters & Climate Vulnerability: Afghanistan is still reeling from two major earthquakes in recent months and is ranked among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, facing both severe drought and extreme cold.

• Economic Collapse & Sanctions: The country remains under stringent international sanctions, primarily due to the Taliban administration’s systematic exclusion of women from education, most jobs, and public spaces—a policy the UN has described as “gender apartheid.” These sanctions severely cripple the economy and humanitarian response.

• Widespread Hunger: The UN World Food Programme reported on Tuesday that over 17 million people in Afghanistan—nearly half the population—are facing acute food insecurity.

The Human Cost
The deaths in Kohsan are not an isolated event but a symptom of the extreme measures Afghans are compelled to take. For many, irregular migration represents the only perceived escape from poverty, hunger, and a future without prospects. With borders officially closed and legal pathways scarce, they are forced onto dangerous smuggling routes, where they face not only the elements but also exploitation by traffickers and the risk of violence from security forces.

This tragedy highlights the urgent need for a coordinated regional and international response that addresses both the immediate humanitarian catastrophe inside Afghanistan and the need for protection-sensitive approaches by neighboring countries, rather than forcible returns that fuel further suffering and displacement.

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