Afghanistan Times
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AT News Report-KABUL: Around 305,000 Afghan refugees have returned home since the beginning of 2018, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Saturday, amid increasing security threats.
The IOM said that most of the returnees have come from Iran and Pakistan, with 285,000 from Iran that indicates 150,000 more compared to the same period in the past year.
12,000 undocumented refugees have returned from Pakistan since the beginning of the current year, either voluntarily or have been deported by force, according to the IOM recent report.
Separately, Turkey has deported 8,000 Afghan refugees since April, it said.
“These people have come back to a country where war is continuing, civilians are not safe and most of people are living in poverty and famine” it said, adding that 30 per cent of the returnees need urgent donations, while there is only seven per cent source for donation.
Over 600,000 refugees came back voluntarily or by force last year from Iran and Pakistan, while 360,000 ones were internally displaced because of continued war and insecurity.
SayedHosseinAlemiBalkhi, minister of refugees and repatriates, said Saturday that drought was another element of people’s displacement besides war and insecurity.
200,000 people have been internally displaced since the beginning of the year.
Italy has donated one million Euros to the IOM to provide assistance to the refugees returned to the provinces of Herat and Nimroz.
Repatriation has affected the human assistance process, according to the World Bank.
Afghans make up third after Syria and Iraq taking refuge to Europe, according to the IOM, despite 358 Afghans were repelled from European countries in 2017.
