900,000 Afghan Refugees Return From Pakistan, Iran This Year Alone

KABUL: Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR) says that the number of Afghan refugees who have returned from Pakistan and Iran since the start of the year is estimated to be about 900,000, surpassing all previous years.

According to the MoRR, more than 600,000 returned from Pakistan and 300,000 from Iran.

Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) has said that there are about 23,000 children among those returned-refugees, adding that many of them are suffering from malnutrition.

"Government has failed to deliver on its promises regarding the refugees; the refugees are living in very bad conditions," said an Afghan returnee Rozi Khan.

"We left Pakistan five days ago, now there is no shelter for us to live in and no food to eat, we have a lot of problems," another refugee Mohammad Jan said.

The MoRR has said that it is committed to meeting the challenges facing the refugees in line with its capacities.

"Government has announced the allocation of $100 million USD for the returnees, some financial cooperation has been considered for each returnee," said Hafiz Ahmad Miakhail, media advisor to MoRR.

Statistics show that in addition to the influx of refugees from Pakistan and Iran, recent violence in the country has also left more than 1.5 million people displaced internally.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt