Afghan refugees are reaching Turkey in greater numbers

HAMMAD PASSED out from exhaustion, but continued walking after he recovered. Crossing from northern Iran into Turkey took three days. Smugglers guided Gharibullah and his group remotely, sending them photos and videos of the route. Their associates occasionally appeared on horseback near the mountaintops to offer directions. Habib was captured by Turkish border guards, but escaped. The guards assaulted one of his companions, he says, breaking bones in his back.Today those three young men, who arrived from Afghanistan this summer, are scattered across Turkey—searching for jobs, or a way to reach Europe, and hiding from the authorities. Turkey is already home to anywhere between 200,000 and 600,000 Afghans, most of whom have arrived in the past decade, fleeing violence and poverty. But as the Taliban captures more of Afghanistan following America’s withdrawal, many more are trying to enter. Around a thousand Afghans are believed to be crossing into Turkey every day, after gruelling journeys across Iran.