ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has extended by six months the Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR (United Nations high Commissioner for Refugees) tripartite agreement on repatriation of Afghan refugees, which was scheduled to end on December 31st, PM Secretariat said on Wednesday.This decision was made at a high-level meeting held in the PM Secretariat following a presentation made on management and repatriation strategy/policy for Afghan refugees living in Pakistan.The PM also decided to constitute a committee held by Minister for States and Frontier Regions Engineer Shaukatullah to monitor the repatriation of Afghan refugees. The meeting was informed that only 0.2 million Afghan refugees could be repatriated up to the end of 2012 and there were still 1.6 million registered and one million unregistered Afghans residing in Pakistan. Minister for Interior Rehman Malik, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira and other senior officials also attended the meeting.AFP adds: A spokeswoman for the UN Refugee Agency said Pakistan had promised not to expel any registered refugee. “We got assurances from Pakistan that they would respect the voluntary nature of returns and would not expel any registered refugee,” Duniya Aslam Khan told AFP.More than five million Afghans fled their homeland for Pakistan in the early 1980s, soon after Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan.Since the 2001 US-led invasion brought down the Taliban, 3.8 million have returned, leaving 1.6 million behind, most born and brought up in Pakistan.In late October, UNHCR boosted incentives for Afghans to return and around 10,000 Afghans went home from October 23 to November 30 - more than double the number who were repatriated in the same period last year.But despite pressure from Islamabad and the extra incentives, the vast majority of the Afghans still in Pakistan are reluctant to return to a country gripped by war and poverty. Despite pressure from Islamabad and incentives from the UN, the vast majority of the Afghan refugees are still refusing to return to a country gripped by war and poverty.“Some people think that the security situation has improved in Afghanistan, but they’re wrong,” said Malik Nader, who represents 500 families in the Jalala refugee camp on the outskirts of Mardan.“If we support the government, the Taliban will come the next day and slit our throats and if we support the Taliban, the coalition forces will come and bomb us,” the truck driver told AFP.More than five million Afghans fled their homeland for Pakistan in the early 1980s, soon after Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan.Since the 2001 US-led invasion brought down the Taliban regime, 3.8 million have returned, leaving 1.6 million behind, most born and brought up in Pakistan.But as the 2014 deadline nears for Nato combat troops to leave Afghanistan, they are under increasing pressure from Pakistan to leave.“If they don’t go in these conditions where every country is present in Afghanistan to provide them peace, when will they leave?” Pakistan’s minister for states and frontier regions, Shaukat Ullah, told reporters recently.“Our idea is that they should go and participate in their country’s development.”At talks with Afghan and UN officials at the weekend, Pakistan said it wanted to make repatriation “faster and better” but reiterated its commitment to a “voluntary process” although saying the deadline remains the same.In late October, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) boosted incentives for Afghans to return - adding fuel, clothes and tarpaulin to the food package previously given to those looking to repatriate.As a result, around 10,000 Afghans went home from October 23 to November 30 - more than double the number who were repatriated in the same period last year.Preparing to join them was the elderly Azat Khan, who spent 30 years in exile but spoke to AFP as he got ready to drive back to Afghanistan. He has always come and gone - first to fight the Russians, then to conduct business or to visit extended family - but this time it is for good.“My house is completely destroyed over there, I have to rebuild it,” said the father-of-11 from Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan, upbeat about the future despite fears of a new civil war after 2014.“I am happy to leave, it’s costing me less,” said Azat referring to the incentives from the United Nations.But there is a catch: Afghans who leave give up their refugee status. If they come back, it will be without the protection of the law like a million other illegal Afghans, regularly accused by the Pakistanis of being criminals.According to the UN, nearly 97 per cent of the refugees have no intention of leaving Pakistan, largely due to the insecurity.Faced with the stalemate, charities have suggested that a new permit should be created allowing Afghans and Pakistanis to work on both sides of the border, legally, without risk of being harassed.If their refugee papers are not renewed, UNHCR representative in Pakistan Neill Wright said it was “hazy” what would happen on January 1.“They have never knowingly deported or forced an Afghan registered refugee back,” he said, adding that he was “quietly confident” the same situation would continue next year.Back in Jalala, which looks more like a village than a refugee camp, with sugar cane fields and mud-brick homes, Nader said he did not want to risk losing everything in Pakistan for an uncertain future in Afghanistan.“As long as the Pakistani government doesn’t expel us, we’ll stay here,” he said, as a dozen men from the camp nodded in agreement.