- Title: Aid agencies struggle to assist wave of returning Afghan refugees
- Date: 23rd October 2016
- Summary: TORKHAM BORDER, AFGHANISTAN (OCTOBER 22, 2016) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS VEHICLES ARRIVING AT CAMP FOR AFGHAN RETURNEES FROM PAKISTAN AFGHAN RETURNEES AT CAMP AFGHAN RETURNEES RECEIVING AID AT CAMP AFGHAN CHILD SITTING ON AID PACKAGE AID PACKAGES NEAR TENT AFGHAN WOMEN RETURNEES FROM PAKISTAN STANDING IN LINE NEAR TENTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATIONS HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR IN AFGHANISTAN, MARK BOWDEN, SAYING: "The response has been initially quite positive with a number of donors giving money but out of the 150 million (USD) we requested, we've only got 48 million (USD) so far, and our costs are certainly going to be running quite high over the winter period." VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN RETURNEES FROM PAKISTAN SITTING IN TENT MEN RETURNEES FROM PAKISTAN INSIDE TENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF THE UNITED NATION ASSISTANCE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN, TADAMICHI YAMAMOTO, SAYING: "Of course there are much more fundamental issues like corruption or how to help, not just the UNAMA but the U.N. agencies in the whole, to help in the job creation, agriculture and all that. Those are fundamental issues for the long term. This one of course could be a long-term issue, but I think the immediate attention now will define the magnitude of the problem that we shall have down the road." VARIOUS OF AFGHAN RETURNEES FROM PAKISTAN SITTING ON TOP OF TRUCK WITH THEIR BELONGINGS, DRIVING OUT OF CAMP
- Embargoed: 7th November 2016 14:02
- Keywords: refugees Iran Pakistan Afghanistan U.N. aid agencies
- Location: TORKHAM, AFGHANISTAN
- City: TORKHAM, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees
- Reuters ID: LVA0015585CUF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Perched on top of lumbering trucks overflowing with all their possessions, Afghan families are streaming back to their home country at unprecedented rates, leaving international organisations scrambling to provide aid as winter approaches.
The flow of returnees from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan this year, estimated by the United Nations to number more than half a million, is straining the capacity of the government and aid agencies, even as violence uproots more Afghans around the country.
At Torkham, the busiest border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, nearly 170,000 Afghans have returned this year, according to the U.N., many of them citing harassment by Pakistani authorities as relations between the two countries have deteriorated.
A cluster of white tents only a few hundred metres from the border marks the first facility operated by the U.N., the Afghan government, and other aid agencies to provide aid for returnees before they look for a home in a country many have not seen in years.
In September, the U.N. issued an appeal for millions of dollars of emergency funding to help returning refugees and other internally displaced people in Afghanistan, but so far the fundraising has yet to reach its goal, said Mark Bowden, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan.
While the challenges of helping the returning Afghan refugees requires immediate attention, the international community should work with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran to try to solve the broader problems driving the crisis, said Tadamichi Yamamoto, head of the U.N. assistance mission in Afghanistan.
Islamabad has stepped up pressure to send people back and numbers have risen sharply in recent months as Afghan-Indian relations strengthened and those between India and Pakistan soured.
But Pakistani officials deny there has been systematic harassment of Afghans living in Pakistan and say their country has demonstrated great generosity to the refugee population, despite severe economic problems of its own. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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