Displaced International Statement of Grave Concern On the Forcible Return of Former Afghan Police and Army Personnel from Iran
Displaced International (DI) expresses its condemnation of the ongoing mass deportations of Afghan refugees by the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly the forcible return of thousands of former Afghan police officers, military personnel, and their families. These individuals, who once stood on the frontlines defending Afghanistan and global security against terrorism, are now being cast back into the hands of the very regime they once resisted—under conditions that amount to a clear and present threat to their lives.
Since the Taliban’s violent overthrow of the Islamic Republic in August 2021, former members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) have become prime targets of the regime’s campaign of vengeance. Despite its hollow claims of a general amnesty, the Taliban has carried out a widespread and sustained purge—marked by extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detention. These violations are well-documented by the United Nations and major human rights organizations and amount to flagrant breaches of international humanitarian law.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Mr. Richard Bennett, has described this rollback as having “undone all the progress” once made to safeguard the lives of at-risk groups, including former security personnel. In his reports to the UN Human Rights Council, he has warned of the Taliban’s systematic targeting of individuals affiliated with the former state, particularly those in uniformed service. Many deportees, he notes, have been arrested, tortured, disappeared, or killed shortly after return. His chilling conclusion: “arbitrary arrests, torture, ill-treatment, and extrajudicial killings of former government officials and security personnel continue with impunity.”
Iran’s deportation campaign has unfolded with calculated cruelty. In just over two weeks—from June 24 to July 9, 2025—over 500,000 Afghans were forcibly expelled, many of them with valid legal documentation. Deportees were arbitrarily detained, beaten, and stripped of their identification before being packed into trucks and dumped at the Islam Qala border. There, in temperatures exceeding 50°C and with no food, water, shelter, or medical assistance, returnees—among them elderly people, women, and children—faced conditions of severe humanitarian distress. For former police and military personnel, the return amounts to a death sentence.
The Taliban continues to maintain detailed intelligence records and deploys interrogation teams at major entry points to identify and apprehend former members of the security forces. In this context, Iran’s actions constitute a direct and deliberate violation of the principle of non-refoulement, a foundational norm of international law that forbids returning individuals to a place where they face persecution, torture, or death. Iran’s breach of this principle is not only unlawful—it is unconscionable.
UNHCR’s Immediate Responsibility
Displaced International calls on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr. Filippo Grandi, to treat the situation with the urgency it demands. UNHCR must prioritize the identification, documentation, and protection of former Afghan security personnel among returnees from Iran and Pakistan. These individuals must be designated high-risk cases and provided with immediate relief, safe relocation, and long-term protection pathways.
Specifically, we urge UNHCR to:
- Deploy emergency mobile registration and protection teams to key return corridors such as Islam Qala, Torkham, and Spin Boldak to screen and document at-risk individuals.
- Advocate for the establishment of temporary protection zones and humanitarian corridors for those facing imminent danger, pending safe relocation.
- Expand access to Complementary Pathways—including humanitarian visas, third-country resettlement, labor mobility schemes, and family reunification—with prioritized access for former ANDSF personnel and their families.
Responsibilities of Iran, Pakistan, and the International Community
We call on the governments of Iran and Pakistan to immediately halt all deportations of Afghans without proper legal screening and individualized risk assessments. Iran must end its ongoing campaign of scapegoating and collective punishment of Afghan refugees, which has inflicted immense suffering and directly contributed to mass human rights violations.
The international community, including the United States, the European Union, India, Japan, and the Gulf Cooperation Council states, must act swiftly and decisively. They must ramp up diplomatic pressure and humanitarian funding to address this spiraling crisis. Failure to do so will amount to complicity in the atrocities that follow.
“We are witnessing the forced return of those who once fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the world against terror—now sent back to be tortured, disappeared, or executed by the Taliban,” said Ambassador Ashraf Haidari, President and Founder of Displaced International. “If the international community fails to protect them now, it is not just a legal failure—it is a moral collapse.”
The mass return of former Afghan security personnel to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is not just a failure of protection—it is a betrayal of those who risked their lives for a democratic and peaceful future. Their persecution is not hypothetical—it is active, ongoing, and well-documented. The global community must not allow these men and women to be abandoned.
Their protection is not optional—it is a legal obligation and a moral imperative.
For further information, comments, or interview requests, please contact us at: info@displacedinternational.org
