Turkey heightens security at Iran border to halt refugees' influx from Afghanistan
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar on Saturday had visited the 295-kilometer long border the country shares with Iran where a modular concrete wall is being built, Arian News added.
FollowAnkara: As Taliban have seized the last major city outside of Kabul, Turkey has intensified security in its borders with Iran in an attempt to stop the refugees' influx from Afghanistan, media reports said on Sunday.
Ankara heightened security measures on its border with Iran to prohibit illegal crossings, mainly Afghans fleeing the Taliban which has taken over key cities and provinces, Afghanistan's Arian News said.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar on Saturday had visited the 295-kilometer long border the country shares with Iran where a modular concrete wall is being built, Arian News added.
Hundreds of Afghans have entered Turkey in recent days as the Taliban escalated violence in Afghanistan.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency on Saturday said that it's alarmed by the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. As widespread fighting intensifies, the United Nations in Afghanistan continues to call for a permanent ceasefire and a negotiated settlement in the interests of the Afghan people, UNHCR said in a statement.
The refugee agency is worried about the impact of the conflict on women and girls. Some 80% of nearly a quarter of a million Afghans forced to flee since the end of May are women and children.
Nearly 4,00,000 were forced from their homes since the beginning of the year, joining 2.9 million Afghans already internally displaced across the country at the end of 2020, the UNHCR added.
The overwhelming majority of Afghans forced to flee remain within the country, as close to their homes as fighting will allow. Since the beginning of this year, nearly 1,20,000 Afghans have fled from rural areas and provincial towns to Kabul province.
(With inputs from agency)
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