KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A young man from eastern Nangarhar province has died in a traffic accident while attempting to travel to Iran through an illegal migration route, local sources said.
The sources identified the victim as Adel, a resident of Abdul Khailo area in Achin district of Nangarhar. His funeral was held in his hometown on Tuesday, November 10.
According to the sources, Adel was travelling to Iran in search of work due to poverty and economic hardship. However, he died in a traffic accident along the way. The exact time and location of the accident remain unclear.
Similar incidents have claimed the lives of other Afghan job seekers and migrants in recent years.
Migration from Afghanistan has increased amid worsening economic conditions and restrictions imposed by the Taliban authorities. Many Afghans travel to neighbouring Iran in search of employment and better living conditions.
However, Iran has tightened restrictions on entry visas for Afghan nationals, prompting some to resort to irregular migration routes. These dangerous journeys expose migrants to traffic accidents, extreme weather conditions, exploitation and other life-threatening risks.
During the summer this year, the bodies of at least 19 Afghan nationals were discovered in a remote desert area between Afghanistan’s Helmand and Nimroz provinces after the group went missing while attempting to reach Iran. Taliban authorities said the migrants had died from extreme weather conditions, hunger and dehydration.
Some Afghans also seek to travel through Iran to Turkey, hoping to eventually reach European countries. However, this route has also proven deadly.
On November 6, KabulNow reported that four Afghan migrants from Samangan province had allegedly been beaten to death by Turkish border guards while attempting to enter Turkey from Iran. The victims, identified as Enayatullah, Toruddin, Lotfullah and Fazl Ahmad, were residents of Hazrat Sultan district. According to local sources, their bodies had been transferred to Iran and were expected to be returned to Afghanistan in the following days.
The growing risks along these migration routes come as Afghanistan continues to face widespread poverty, unemployment and a humanitarian crisis. According to a report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in May 2026, around 28 million people in Afghanistan—three in every four Afghans—were unable to meet their basic needs in 2025.
The report cited declining international assistance, population growth, climate-related shocks and restrictions on women’s rights among the factors worsening living conditions.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has also documented growing pressure on Afghan migration routes. In its report covering November 2025 to July 2026, the agency examined how instability in Iran, changing livelihood conditions and economic pressures have affected movements between Afghanistan and Iran.
For some Afghans, Iran is both a destination for employment and a transit country for onward migration to Turkey and Europe. According to a July 2025 regional report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 90 percent of Afghans arriving in the European Union in 2024 entered through Greece via the Eastern Mediterranean route, which connects Turkey to the Greek islands. Others continued through the Western Balkans or travelled through other European countries.
Afghans have remained among the largest groups seeking international protection in Europe. The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) reported that Afghan nationals lodged approximately 117,000 asylum applications in EU+ countries in 2025, making them the largest applicant nationality that year. The figure represented a 33 percent increase compared with 2024, although some applications were repeat claims rather than new arrivals.
These figures highlight the scale of displacement and migration among Afghans, many of whom undertake dangerous journeys in search of employment, security and better living conditions.
