Daily Times

Though the repatriation of Afghan refugees to their motherland can be taken positively, the development is fraught with difficulties for the local administration, aid agencies and the government of Afghanistan. Besides basic difficulties like reintegration of undocumented Afghans, there are other challenges like provision of jobs to young returnees, accommodation and arrangement of other basic civic facilities. Among them, the biggest challenge is survival in the wake of ongoing civil war in Afghanistan. Reportedly, more than 9,400 undocumented Afghans have returned home from Iran and Pakistan in the first week of 2017, raising concerns over how the war-torn nation will cope with the rising influx. These are the highest regular returns since conditions changed dramatically in Afghanistan and surrounding countries in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States and subsequent military campaign against Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership and the Al Qaida network. After the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, more than 6 million Afghans crossed into neighboring Pakistan and Iran. More Afghans fled violence, persecution and ethnic cleansing and genocide as a result of regional proxy conflicts in Afghanistan throughout the 1990s.

Perhaps one of the biggest human tragedies in the years since the start of the war has been the plight of the uprooted Afghan people. Since 1979, Afghanistan has been embroiled in a permanent state of conflict: the Soviet-Afghan War was followed by a civil war, which was followed by the conquest and brutal five year rule of the Taliban, which was then followed by the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan. Due to this constant warfare and resultant destruction, millions of Afghans have fled into Pakistan and Iran as war refugees. As early as 1988, at least 3 million Afghan refugees were housed in camps near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; the number has only increased since then, officially making Pakistan one of the largest hosts of refugees in the world. But while during the heady days of Soviet-Afghan War Pakistan was a willing host and wanted to project the image of a helpful and compassionate neighbour, the matter was imagined to be, handled as if, temporary. But given the now-permanent nature of conflict in Afghanistan, Pakistan is not willing to give shelter to these refugees anymore. In June 2016, the federal government extended the stay for registered Afghan refugees for six months — till the end of 2016 with no intent of further extension. After this announcement, the process of Afghan refugees’ repatriation from Pakistan has accelerated as more than 20,000 Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan in the months of July and August 2016.

Afghans should return to their homes, as that would be any refugee’s biggest, rather, only dream, but before that happens those states that are responsible for the present plight of Afghans must make efforts for their peaceful settlement in Afghanistan. Afghan refugees deserve empathy, kindness, and dignified treatment, not derision, mistrust and charity. Afghan refugees must be given respect and security with full assurance of a safe return home. *