Freedom's choice for Afghans: Over the wall or through the desert

Afghan migrant Waheed Ahmad sits with his children as they wait to leave the country for Iran, inside a dilapidated building in Zaranj in the southwestern province of Nimroz

Amid a roar of engines and clouds of dust, Sattar Amiri clambers into a pickup truck with his wife and infant son in a remote Afghan frontier town, ready for a perilous drive through the desert. 

Like the thousands of desperate migrants around him, he has only one goal -- to reach Iran.

"There is no future in Afghanistan."

At night, the most daring try to scale the imposing wall that separates this arid city from Iran, despite the risk of being shot by border guards.

Afghanistan has been plunged into financial crisis following the Taliban takeover six months ago, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation after decades of war. 

Others fear being targeted by the Taliban because of their association with the previous Western-backed regime or the US-led foreign forces who finally withdrew on August 31.

In desperation, he sold his house in Mazar-e-Sharif to finance his family's escape to Iran, where he plans to take any job he can get.

This exodus has transformed Zaranj into a people-smuggling den of misery.

In the city's dilapidated hotels, migrants sleep on carpets while waiting their turn to cross, despair and fear etched into their faces.

"If they come a third time, they will really kill me," says the 25-year-old from Daikundi province, declining to reveal his full name.

The city's smugglers are rubbing their hands with glee at the steady stream of clients -- which could become a flood with the arrival of spring and more favourable weather.

"We used to take three million (Iranian) tomans (about $120), now it's six million," says the grinning 22-year-old, who pays the Taliban a cut to operate.

The gathering is carried out in full view of the Taliban, who charge each vehicle 1,000 Afghanis ($10) -- even providing an "official" stamped receipt.

The Taliban denied people were leaving in those numbers, and called such reports "propaganda".

"This many Afghans are not leaving," he told AFP in response to a direct question at a news conference, adding "neither are there exact numbers that anyone can prove".

When they reach the Pakistan border, the migrants are handed over to smugglers on the other side, and a treacherous journey by foot begins to the Iranian border.

As a member of the minority Shiite Hazara ethnic group, the 20-year-old design student would be easy prey for fighters from Jundallah, a radical Sunni operation responsible for numerous kidnappings in the desert.

So Rezai and his friends aim to climb the border wall, which stretches from Zaranj as far as the eye can see.

It is a formidable barrier -- a five-metre (16-foot) concrete wall topped with barbed wire and dotted with watchtowers manned by armed guards.

"The smugglers lie to us," says Maihan, who has already made several failed attempts.

But even if you make it over, the euphoria is often short-lived.

Still, Sadat Qatal and Waheed Ahmad plot their attempt from their spartan Zaranj hotel room, their four children alongside them.

"He told me that many died," the 30-year-old shudders.

qb-rfo/fox/lto

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