Some 200,000 Afghans and counting have been flowing home across the border for weeks — from a country that is one of the world’s biggest epicenters of the pandemic to an impoverished homeland that is woefully unprepared to deal with it.
outbreak. He had no money, was afraid of contracting the virus and had no options. So he headed home.
He and other Afghan officials expressed concern that Iran would push out the more than 1 million Afghans working illegally in the country. Iran has already barred entry from Afghanistan, preventing any who left from coming back. Iran has had more than 58,000 coronavirus cases and more than 3,600 deaths.
When the factory shut, he lost his income. He feared that, if infected, he would get no treatment because Afghans are far down in priority. He tried to get tested in Iran but was refused, he said. He reached his home in Kabul on March 17 and isolated himself for two weeks from his family, fearing he could infect them. “I experienced the worst moment of my life, meeting my parents, sisters and brothers from a distance after such a long time,” he said, speaking by phone from his home.
On Monday, neighboring Pakistan said it would reopen its border for four days so that Afghans wishing to return home can go back. On the other side of the border, which closed nearly a month ago, the Afghan government has set up a quarantine camp for the returnees.
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