Treat Afghans with compassion, Kabir urges Iran

KABUL (Pajhwok): Acting Minister of Refugee and Repatriation Maulvi Abdul Kabir has urged Iran to treat Afghan refugees with patience and kindness.

He issued the call at a meeting with the advisor to Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Reza Bahrami and Iranian Ambassador Ali Reza Bigdeli here on Friday, the Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation said.

A statement from the ministry quoted Kabir as saying the caretaker government was developing a mechanism to provide legal documentation for the Afghan refugees whose legal stay in Iran has expired. The documents will enable them to stay in Iran lawfully.

He urged the Iranian authorities to show tolerance and humane treatment towards Afghan refugees.

The minister also called on all host countries to grant Afghan refugees sufficient time to return to their homeland voluntarily.

He noted the interim government had devised plans for 46 townships for returning refugees, with work already in progress on several of them.

Bahrami extended an invitation to the minister to visit Tehran. He suggested ahead of the visit, the Afghan side should share a proposal outlining the process for refugee repatriation to facilitate a mutual understanding and enhance cooperation.

Bahrami stressed the importance of treating Afghan refugees in a humane manner, pointing out that Iran currently hosted eight million Afghan nationals, of whom around four million without legal documentation or residency authorisation.

kk/mud