It is not safe for me' Afghan women tell of terror, grief and loss after Iran expulsions

Safia thought she had finally found safety. After years of violence and hardship at the hands of her husband, a police officer who became a Taliban commander in the western province of Herat, Safia and her two children fled from Afghanistan to Iran in 2018 to start a new life.

- Farshid Aram Rad Radan

There, with the help of other refugee Afghan women, she had started a small clothing business and had built a fragile but dignified life for herself and her family.

Two weeks ago, that all collapsed when Safia and her teenage children were given a deportation notice. They joined hundreds of thousands of other refugees being rounded up and forced back over the border into Afghanistan.

Now back in Herat, Safia lives in daily terror of her husband.

"I was his second wife. My father forced me to marry him because he had money and power. He used to beat me constantly," she said. "Here in Herat, it is not safe for me. My husband is now working with the Taliban and still has influence."

Even though Safia was able to pull together some money before being deported, she has not been able to find anywhere stable for her and her children to live and has no way of making a living.

Of the estimated 800,000 undocumented Afghan refugees and migrants who were returned from Iran between 1 June and 23 July, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 153,000 were women.