Above 2 million Afghan refugees return since political change

KABUL (Pajhwok): Acting Refugees and Repatriation Minister Khalil Rahman Haqqani on Tuesday said more than two million Afghans had returned to the country from different countries, including neighboring countries, during the past two years.

Haqqani, addressing a meeting in Kabul on the occasion of World Refugee Day, said Afghans constituted the largest number of refugees in the world.

He also added over two million internally displaced people had returned to their hometowns in the past year.

He said the returning Afghans were provided necessary humanitarian assistance in cooperation with international institutions.

Haqqani assured aid agencies in Afghanistan of his ministry’s all-out efforts to provide suitable ground for providing aid to the returnees.

He asked aid organizations to share and coordinate their programs and assistance with the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.

The acting minister also called on international organizations and charities, including the United Nations, to reach out to Afghan refugees at home and abroad and to maintain their support as in the past.

Haqqani said the international community should not link humanitarian aid to Afghan refugees with political issues.

He urged neighboring countries Iran and Pakistan to treat Afghan refugees well and not forcefully deport them.

He claimed many organizations in Afghanistan pocketed money they received from foreign donors in the name of helping Afghan refugees and asked such institutions to spend 80 percent of the funds on helping Afghan refugees.

He said currently up to eight million Afghans were living as refugees in different countries, mostly in Iran and Pakistan.

Recently, UNHCR said more than 3.5 million Afghans migrated to foreign countries during the past two years, when 1.7 million people returned to their country.

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