KABUL - Afghanistan will reportedly take in more than 1.5 million Afghan refugees by the end of the year, challenging the government at a time when Kabul is already struggling against resurgent Taliban militants and an emerging Islamic State group (IS).
Based on figures compiled by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), some 20 percent of Afghanistan's population already are former refugees known as "returnees." Many of them, along with internally displaced Afghans and Afghans living in "refugee like" conditions, are part of a group of people the United Nations calls "people of concern." The U.N. says this group of people has grown by 33 percent in 2015, and numbers more than 1.7 million people who are in desperate need of assistance.
The new arrivals will only add to those numbers.
According to Afghan officials, the refugees now returning are traveling from Iran and Europe but a vast majority are from Pakistan.
“This year until November around 800,000 Afghanistan have returned from Pakistan and Iran and we anticipate that the number will rise to a million Afghans by the end of the year, mainly from Pakistan,” said Hafizullah Miakhil, spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
“Our strategy in regards to the returning refugees to Afghanistan has always been about volunteer, dignified, manageable and gradual return of the Afghan refugees from neighboring countries as well as Europe,” Miakhil said.
Miakhil confirmed that there will be a substantial increase in the number of Afghan refugees returning to Afghanistan in 2016, but he said “putting the number at 1.5 million refugees would be stretching it a bit too far”.
Afghan government readiness
Managing the influx of over a million refugees to go along with the Afghan government’s conservative statistics will still put the Afghan National Unity government in a difficult position as it tries to strike a balance between security needs and refugee resettlement programs. This at a time when the ongoing war with the Taliban and Islamic State has already displaced tens of thousands of Afghans across the country.
However, Hafizullah Miakhil of the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation told VOA that Afghan government is prepared for the influx to the extent that the process is in line with the governments overall policy and strategy at the ministry level.
“As far as our readiness to accommodate these returnees is concerned, Afghans who are returning from Pakistan, Iran and Europe and who are registered with UNHCR will be given around $400 per person along with some other resettlement assistance,” Miakhil said. “Those who are not registered refugees, IOM will be providing them with help.”
Miakhil said the Afghan government has allocated money for those returning to Afghanistan and based on a presidential decree, refugees will be provided with a piece of land as well. (VoA)