KABUL (SW) – A number of Afghan returnees from Pakistan, complaining about poverty, unemployment, and aid cuts, say that they need the comprehensive support and cooperation of the Islamic Emirate and external aid organizations to get through life.
Pir Mohammad and Zhargul, who returned from Pakistan three months ago, say that if they are not provided with a job, they have no hope for their future in the country.
Pir Mohammad says: “There is no work here. We also got rid of the money that they had given us, aid has also been stopped. If a person gets sick, we do not have the money to take him to the doctor.”
Zhargul, another returnee from Pakistan who currently lives in Kandahar, also said: “We ask the government to help us and provide us with a job.”
Earlier, the international aid organizations, warning of the bad condition of the returnees, had assured the efforts to continue their assistance.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has recently released a report, warning that more than half a million Afghans who were forcibly returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan, are facing a dire future.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also announced a $3.8 million contribution from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund to the World Food Program to help citizens returning from Pakistan.
OCHA emphasized that this financial aid will give the World Food Program (WFP) the opportunity to distribute cash aid to 33,000 families who have returned to Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Immigrants and Returnees has not stated the exact number of Afghan returnees from Pakistan.
However, OCHA has recently said that after the process of forced deportation of immigrants from Pakistan, 500,000 people have returned to Afghanistan so far.
