Afghan migrants crossing into Turkey to flee Taliban violence

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A volunteer carries an injured youth to hospital, following a bomb blast in Haska Mina district of Nangarhar Province on October 18, 2019. (NOORULLAH SHIRZADA/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 3:22 PM PT – Friday, July 23, 2021​

A growing number of Afghan citizens have begun fleeing to Turkey in order to escape Taliban violence amid the American troop withdrawal. Reports said Afghan migrants have continued to pour into Turkey, raising concerns over the influx of refugees in the country.

Turkish Interior Ministry officials said they detained around 1,600 migrants in just two weeks. In addition, the U.N. Refugee Agency estimated around 270,000 Afghans have been displaced since January.

Meanwhile, Afghan migrants said they’re making the trek through Iran to Turkey in hopes of finding work in Istanbul.

The number of people forced to flee due to conflict, war and human rights abuses has reached a record-breaking 82.4 million.

World leaders must act to reverse this trend of soaring displacement.

Stand #WithRefugees. https://t.co/uYmQq3rLT4 pic.twitter.com/jaXR1BvkkA

— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) July 22, 2021

“I came here to work. There is no money in Afghanistan and there is the Taliban,” said one Afghan migrant. “They are giving weapons, asking people to fight. We came here to flee that.”

Turkish, Afghan and Iranian officials held talks on migration last month, but have not come up with a specific solution to address the influx of migrants fleeing Afghanistan.

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