TEHRAN (AFP) – The head of the Red Cross on Monday said he discussed in Iran the plight of Afghan migrants who fled their country after the Taleban took power last year.
“Afghanistan was very much present in the conversation, especially in the wake of the recent developments that we witnessed in August with the change in the government,” Robert Mardini told AFP after two days of talks in Tehran with Iranian authorities.
“The discussions were positive. We see eye to eye,” said Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
More than one million Afghans have sought refuge in Iran since the Taleban returned to power in August, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
Thousands of Afghans daily try to cross into neighbouring Iran in search of work, or in a bid to reach Europe in the hope of asylum.
The Islamic republic now hosts a total of five million Afghans, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry.
Mardini said the ICRC discussed with Iran’s Red Crescent ways of “providing critical health services to Afghan migrants and refugees”.
