Afghans began to flee to Iran and Pakistan in 1979 when war broke out in their home country. Currently, there are about one million Afghan refugees in Iran and 1.4 million in Pakistan. The majority of them were born in their countries of asylum and have never been to Afghanistan. Yet, the preferred solution of the Iranian and Pakistani Governments is for Afghans to repatriate. In addition to registered refugees, it is estimated that there are also between 1.5 and two million undocumented Afghans in Iran and one million in Pakistan. Many of these undocumented Afghans have valid international protection needs, but were unable to receive or maintain refugee status from their host countries. At the level of outcomes and education access, we see that the Afghan refugee population in Iran is much better educated than the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan. School enrolment at primary levels in Iran is more than double that of Pakistan and so is the literacy rate. Also, gender disparities are much smaller in Iran. While the purpose of this paper is not to explain the reasons for this divergence comprehensively, it can point to some key differences in the Afghan refugee situations in Iran and Pakistan, as well as some differences in the policy responses between the Iranian and Pakistani governments.