Abdul Jabbar, an Afghan returnee, said 'it would be better to die in a war than from hunger,' after fleeing Iran's economic crisis amid a war with the US and Israel. While women who have returned face stringent rules barring them from education and work ▻ ↧ Impoverished by war in Iran, Afghan migrants return to Taliban rule For decades, Iran's industrialized and much larger economy offered Afghans an escape from poverty. Now, Iran's economy has collapsed so severely that many Afghans said returning was their only option.