$25m urgently needed to support Afghan returnees: WFP

KABUL (Pajhwok): The World Food Program (WFP) needs $25 million in aid to support refugees returning from Pakistan to Afghanistan by the end of this year.

On its X handle, WFP representative of program in Afghanistan Mutinta Chimuka in a video clip said she went to Torkham, where thousands of refugees arrive from Pakistan every day.

She said these are people, many of whom have spent their entire lives in Pakistan and have been forced to return empty-handed, some with no income, no work, no food, and no place to go.

The humanitarian situation here is already dire, and one in three Afghans is unsure where their future food will come from, she added.

According to her, they urgently need $25 million by the end of the year to help returnees who are returning to Afghanistan after spending many years in Pakistan and starting their lives anew.

WFP explained every day thousands of Afghan families are being forced to flee Pakistan, while 15 million people already do not know where their future food will come from.

The deadline for the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan expired on March 31, and hundreds of Afghan refugees are returning to Afghanistan every day.

Over 100,000 Afghans have been forcibly deported from Pakistan in the past three weeks.

hz/ma