By Admin • Wed Aug 20 2025
At least 73 people, including 17 children, lost their lives in a tragic traffic accident in western Afghanistan, officials confirmed. The victims were mostly Afghan migrants recently deported from Iran.
According to authorities in Herat province, the incident occurred late Tuesday when a bus traveling towards Kabul collided with a truck and a motorcycle, sparking a massive fire. Ahmadullah Mottaqi, the Taliban’s information and culture director in Herat, said all passengers on the bus were killed, along with two people in the other vehicles.
Local officials stated that the passengers had boarded the bus in Islam Qala, a town near the Afghan–Iran border. Police investigations suggest the crash was caused by reckless driving and excessive speed.
Deadly road accidents are frequent in Afghanistan, where damaged infrastructure, weak traffic regulations, and overcrowded vehicles make travel dangerous.
The tragedy comes amid Iran’s intensified deportations of undocumented Afghan migrants. Millions of Afghans have lived in Iran and Pakistan for decades, fleeing war and political instability since the Soviet invasion of 1979. Recently, however, growing anti-Afghan sentiment and strict government policies have led to mass expulsions.
Iranian authorities have pushed out hundreds of thousands of Afghans this year, citing security concerns. Human rights groups argue the policy is driven by discrimination and internal political pressures. According to the UN Refugee Agency, over 1.5 million Afghans have been forced to leave Iran since January, with many returning to a homeland already under severe humanitarian and economic strain.
Observers warn that Afghanistan, under Taliban administration, is ill-equipped to handle the rapid influx of returnees. With Pakistan also carrying out mass deportations, the country faces mounting pressure as it struggles to provide for millions of displaced people.