The war in Afghanistan has dragged on for nearly 18 years. In that time, it is estimated that at least 38,000 civilians have died violently. In addition, the war contributes to problems of poverty, poor access to healthcare and education, and the spread of disease. As of December 2018, there are believed to be more than 3.5 million Afghans internally displaced, while 2.3 million have fled abroad since 2012. At the same time, millions of Afghans have returned home over the last couple of years due to a variety of political, economic, and security factors. Many have returned through four official land border crossing points: two, on the left in the map above, connect Iran and Afghanistan, while the two on the right are between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Iran and Pakistan are the two countries hosting the most Afghan refugees.
This visual seeks to explore the relationship between the intensity of conflict near Afghanistan's official land border crossing points and the flow of returnees through these ports. It uses monthly data from 2018 on returnees from the International Organization of Migration. The intensity of conflict is based on the number of politically-motivated violent events recorded by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project for each month within the provinces with border crossings.
Select a Month (2018):