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Afghan Women and Girls Deported From Iran Fear Returning to Afghanistan

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“Get ready to cope” was the message from an aid worker to women returning to Taliban rule in Afghanistan after their expulsion from Iran.

A large group of people milling about, many seated on the blacktop ground.

Jim Huylebroek

By Elian Peltier

Photographs by Jim Huylebroek

Reporting from Islam Qala, at the border between Iran and Afghanistan, and Herat, Afghanistan.

July 16, 2025, 5:15 a.m. ET

No more evening walks. No more jobs at the supermarket. No more hopes for school.

As three Afghan sisters returned to Afghanistan after being deported from Iran last week, the reality of what they had once enjoyed and was now out of reach sank in amid their sighs and dwindling claims of defiance.

Marwa, 18, noted they should start by getting head scarves and outfits to cover themselves, which they didn’t have.

“Afghanistan is like a cage for women, and we’re coming back to that cage,” said Khurshid, 17, the youngest of the three and a self-taught painter.

Iran’s mass deportation of more than 1.4 million Afghans this year has shattered the hopes of women and girls working and studying in Iran. Neighboring Pakistan has implemented a similar policy, putting at risk the lives of many other women who fled Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Some of the world’s most severe restrictions on women and girls await. Under the new Afghan government, it is against the law for girls to study beyond sixth grade. Women cannot hold most jobs or go to public spaces like parks, nor travel long distances without a male companion.

Image

Khurshid, 17, defied Taliban orders to wear a hijab at the border crossing. But one of her sisters acknowledged that they would have to dress differently in Afghanistan.