RFERL:

Hundreds of dilapidated pickup trucks packed with men, women, and children leave daily from Zaranj, Afghanistan’s smuggling capital.

From Zaranj -- the capital of the remote southwestern province of Nimroz -- the vehicles turn south, slogging through the scorching desert and crossing the porous border with Pakistan.

In the border town of Dak, in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan Province, the smugglers transfer the Afghans to new vehicles. More than 20 people pile into the back of each pickup truck, embarking on an hours-long journey through the vast Balochistan desert and across the inhospitable Mashkel Mountains into Iran.

Many of the Afghan refugees and migrants who make it this far will remain illegally in Iran, taking on menial jobs to earn enough money to send back to their families in Afghanistan. Others will pay smugglers to take them as far as Turkey, from where some will hope to reach Western Europe.

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