First group of Afghans stranded in Pakistan returns home

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): The first group of Afghans who were stranded on the Pakistani side of Torkham border has returned to their country following a meeting between Pakistani and Afghan officials.

These Afghans had no passports and wanted to return to their country with their identity cards.

However, Pakistan halted exit of Afghans without passports last week, leaving stranded hundreds of people stranded on the Pakistani side of the border.

Documents handed over to Torkham Commissar Sayed Ghaziullah Hashimi by Pakistani officials state that around 50 people crossed Torkham border on Wednesday and returned to their country.

Torkham Commissary says that it was the first group of about 50,000 people stranded in Pakistan.

On the other hand, Afghans who returned to their home country are happy and say the problem should be permanently solved.

Abdul Basit, one of them, told Pajhwok Afghan News that his family was without a caretaker and he was facing many problems when he was stopped on the other side of the border.

He stressed that the Afghan officials should resolve the problem with the Pakistani side permanently.

Pakistani officials told Afghan authorities that the rest of the Afghans will get their permits soon and will return to their country.

mds/ma

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