Impoverished by war in Iran, Afghan migrants return to Taliban rule

Mohammad Saeed had just turned 18 when he fled to Iran with his parents and younger brother and sister, escaping the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Now Saeed and his family are among thousands who have returned home to escape the economic crisis in Iran triggered by the conflict with the US and Israel. The family came back nearly empty-handed, Saeed said. “The Iranian currency had fallen so sharply,” he said, that the family’s savings, held in Iranian rials, lost over two-thirds of their value. Afghan nationals carrying their belongings walk after crossing the border from Iran at the Islam Qala border crossing in Herat province, Afghanistan, on Sept 3, 2026. — Reuters For decades, Iran’s industrialised and much larger economy offered Afghans an escape from poverty and, in the 1990s and again since 2021, from the harsh rule of the Taliban. Now, Iran’s economy has collapsed so severely that many Afghans said they saw returning as their only option. They are coming back with their wives and daughters, despite the severe restrictions on women in Afghanistan, with curbs on their education, travel and employment. Reuters journalists spent one week in the border regions