Afghan Refugees Flooding Home, Some Forced From Camps

Mass repatriation may be new disaster
By Heather McPherson
Posted Aug 20, 2007 4:34 PM CDT
Afghan Refugees Flooding Home, Some Forced From Camps
Afghan refugees temporary settle in between two trucks after arriving at the U.N. Refugee Agency center in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 30, 2007. More than 4 million Afghans have been assisted home from the neighboring countries since UNHCR launched the voluntary return operation in 2002, making...   (Associated Press)

Afghan refugees are returning to their post-Taliban nation by the hundreds of thousands, and there are few resources to support them. Much of the repatriation is voluntary, the BBC reports, with newfound stability attracting Afghanis who fled as long as 25 years ago; others have been forced out of Pakistani camps that are shutting down.

Roughly 100,000 refugees returned from Iran over 6 weeks this summer, arriving in trucks holding as many as six families and their cattle. The UN administers vaccines, mine awareness training, and $100 per person. Many get land, but it’s usually in the desert, miles from schools, food and medical clinics. The government can do little to help. (More Afghanistan stories.)

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