The price of an education for Afghan refugees in Iran -- Decades of subsistence farming have curved 65-year-old Isa’s spine and turned his cheeks a rich, leathery brown. The white-haired father of seven obtained legal refugee status in Iran over three decades ago, fleeing war and crushing poverty as the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Two political regimes later, Isa must still stay off the main road when he rides his motorbike to work. -- Under the intricate Iranian laws governing the lives of Afghan immigrants, refugees lack permission to own motor vehicles. -- On the two-kilometer stretch of road that separates his rented brick cottage from the two-acre field where he plants kale, an old Afghan driver may pique police interest, with potentially devastating consequences for Isa and his family. -- In late June, Isa’s nephew-in-law, Ali, 26, was detained while traveling to Ghazvin, a city northwest of Tehran, to see his wife’s family. He was sent back to Kabul. Although the address where Ali was registered is only 40 kilometers away, he did not have written permission from a local official to leave the district. Ali spent a hellish summer in Kabul, living in a dirt-floor hut with his relatives. He telephoned his wife and infant son every day, wondering who would provide for them if he was unable to find a way back to Iran. -- Isa, whose four grown daughters and son still live with him in Ghazvin, has learned to avoid such mistakes. He is old enough to recall a time when Afghan refugees enjoyed the same welfare and benefits as needy Iranian citizens, and has struggled to adjust to the constantly evolving laws that restricted those privileges as his compatriots began flooding into the country by the hundred thousands, becoming the largest urban refugee population in the world. -- As the cash-strapped Iranian government struggles to accommodate the estimated 3 million Afghan refugees living in the country, the smallest infraction is enough to get even documented immigrants deported. One year ago, Iran began implementing a plan to repatriate some 2.5 million Afghans by 2015. The strategy contradicts the current trend of Afghan migration, which has been rising steadily as renewed violence near the Durand Line displace civilians and Nato’s imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan heighten political and economic uncertainty. -- Despite growing xenophobia and Iran’s own economic problems, many Afghans favor the difficult conditions in Iran to an unstable future back home. Faced with restrictions on property ownership, freedom of movement and access to government services, seasoned first-generation migrants like Isa constantly search for ways to circumvent the rules and allow their families to have stable lives. - Read More, Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/sep/05/iranthe-afghanistan-refugees