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A perilous journey and an uncertain future: The plight of Afghan refugees in Turkey

Faced with the prospect of life under Taliban rule, Afghans are once again leaving their country, in search of safety and peace.

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Many are on foot, crossing a centuries-old smuggler’s route, their eyes on Turkey, home to the world’s largest refugee population.

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Since the United States announced its plans to withdraw from Afghanistan by Aug. 31, the Taliban has made considerable territorial gains across the country, most recently seizing its second- and third-largest cities on Friday.

Afghan migrants face a treacherous journey through lands where animosity toward refugee groups is on the rise.

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Migrants from Afghanistan walk along a mountain pathway to reach Tatvan, Turkey, on July 17.

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An Iranian border outpost is seen in the distance, behind part of Turkey's newly completed border wall with Iran, near Caldiran, Turkey, on July 10.

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Migrants from Afghanistan walk across a village bridge on their way to Tatvan, Turkey, on June 24.

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Migrants pay upward of $1,000 per person to smugglers who take them across eastern Turkey, to safe houses and around policed checkpoints.

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Afghan migrants rest on the outskirts of Tatvan while waiting for smugglers to transport them to the next city on June 23.

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Migrants walk along a main road toward Tatvan on June 24.

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An Afghan migrant rests behind a gas station on the outskirts of Tatvan while waiting for smugglers on June 22.

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Afghan migrants wash themselves on the roadside on the outskirts of Tatvan on June 22.

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Turkey is home to an estimated 4 million refugees, the majority of them Syrians who fled a bloody conflict that has lasted more than a decade. Across the country, anti-refugee sentiment appears to be on the rise.

“The real survival problem of our country is the flood of refugees. Now we are caught in the Afghan flood,” Turkish opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said in July. Members of his party have espoused a staunchly anti-refugee platform.

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The Turkish government has indicated it would ramp up border security against Afghan asylum seekers.

“All the necessary measures have been taken on time. We have reviewed our measures on the Iranian border against potential mobility [of refugees] after the recent developments,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Thursday.

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Officers chase a man who fled from a smuggler's car that was transporting Afghan migrants, during a roadside raid in Van, Turkey, on July 6.

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A gendarme officer helps an Afghan migrant from a smuggler's van after it hit a tree as the smuggler who was driving attempted to flee officers conducting a roadside raid in Van on July 7.

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Afghan migrants, some injured, sit on the side of the road after a smuggler ran their van into a tree as he escaped gendarme officers in Van.

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Attempts to crack down on the smuggling of refugees can be dangerous. In July, paramedics were called to the scene after a vehicle transporting migrants crashed into a tree in the Van area, leaving migrants injured. The driver was attempting to flee authorities conducting a roadside raid.

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Paramedics and gendarme officers assist an Afghan migrant who suffered injuries in the crash.

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Afghan migrants are given coronavirus tests during processing procedures at a gendarme base after they were found in a smuggler's car during a raid in Van on July 6.

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Police officers from Turkey's anti-smuggling division enter a smuggler's safe house in Van during a raid on the property on July 13.

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A police officer from Turkey's anti-smuggling division questions an Afghan man suspected of being a smuggler's lookout during a raid on a safe house in Van.

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Migrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan wait to be escorted out of a safe house after a raid in Van.

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Migrants from Afghanistan are escorted out of a safe house in Van after a police raid.

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An officer from Turkey's police special operations division guards the outside of a smuggler's safe house during a police raid in Van on July 13.

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Afghan migrants in Van wait to be transported by police from Turkey's anti-smuggling division.

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Migrants often report severe beatings by Iranian border guards and poor safe house conditions, while the treacherous mountain crossings and travel out of Afghanistan have claimed many lives.

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But for so many, the risk is the only option.

“I have not had a day of peace in over 40 years,” an Afghan woman named Durdana told the Guardian. “I had to come to Turkey, there was no choice.”

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Gravestones of unidentified migrants who have died crossing the Turkish-Iranian border are seen in a cemetery in Van.

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Migrants from Afghanistan walk along a village pathway to reach Tatvan on July 17.

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Chris McGrath/Getty Images

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Editing by Olivier Laurent and Reem Akkad