The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that Afghanistan currently has more than 3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and nearly 6 million refugees in neighboring countries and the region.
The UN agency said that although the war in Afghanistan has ended, the number of internally displaced persons in the country remains high.
The UNHCR statement reads: “With the end of major hostilities in Afghanistan and the consolidation of control by de facto authorities (dfa) in August 2021, conflict is no longer the primary driver of displacement. Nonetheless, 3.2 million Afghans remain displaced within the country due to conflict and over 5.82 million are registered refugees or Afghans in refugee-like situations in the region, mostly in the Islamic Republics of Iran and Pakistan.”
Ghulam Sakhi, who moved with his family from Kapisa to Kabul years ago to survive, told TOLOnews: “We ask the Islamic Emirate and other institutions to survey us. We are living in a difficult situation here. Kapisa province has also made sacrifices.”
“We should be provided with shelter in our province or other provinces. Many displaced people have no homes or land; even if they have houses, their homes are destroyed,” said Agha Shirin, an internally displaced person.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recently reported that in the past week, the number of people who left Afghanistan for Iran and Pakistan increased by eleven percent. According to the organization’s findings, nearly 65,000 people returned from Pakistan and Iran to Afghanistan in the past week, while over 72,000 left for these countries.
The International Organization for Migration said: “Outflow exceeded Inflow by 11 per cent this week. Both inflows and outflows increased by 21 per cent from last week.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations said efforts are underway to return internally displaced persons to their original areas.
In the past year, more than 17,600 displaced families have been relocated to their original areas by the Ministry of Refugees.
Abdul Matin Haqqani, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, told TOLOnews: “In the past year, humanitarian assistance has been provided to nearly 700,000 displaced persons, and similarly, 17,667 families have been transferred to their original areas.”
Concerns from organizations about the situation of Afghan IDPs and refugees come at a time when, in the past year, the process of expelling Afghan refugees and migrants from Pakistan and Iran has increased.