KABUL (SW) – The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) has recently said in a report that Afghanistan is the first country in South Asia and the second in the world that has the most internally displaced people.
OCHA added that currently one out of every seven Afghan citizens is internally displaced and the number of internally displaced people in Afghanistan reaches 6.3 million.
“Currently, 6.3 million people, that is one out of every seven Afghans, are facing long-term displacement. Many of them have left their homes.”
OCHA stated that long-term drought, poverty, natural disasters, and climate change are the main reasons for the internal displacement of Afghan citizens.
Meanwhile, a number of internally displaced people say that drought and natural events have forced them to leave their main residing place.
Saleh Mohammad, a resident of Helmand, says, “We were in the district, there was water there in the past, our agricultural land, our gardens had a good yield. As soon as the water dried up, we lost everything, now we are in another area, we have no job, and we are wandering.”
Gul Mohammad, another resident of Helmand who was recently displaced, says: “We are residents of Nawazd region. It has been three or four months since we came to the city of Lashkargah, there was a drought, we came here, our lands dried up and we had to move.”
In addition, Afghan returnees from Iran and Pakistan have also added to the number of displaced people in Afghanistan.
Abdul Rahman, an Afghan citizen who recently returned from Pakistan, says: “Life is very hard, there is nothing to do, our economic situation is dire, there is no treatment or facilities for our patients, and we are facing many problems.”
These displaced people want the de-facto government to address their challenges and provide them with the opportunity to live in permanent places.
Officials from the Ministry of Migration and Returnees Affairs (MoMRA), however, say that two million Afghan citizens are currently internally displaced. He emphasizes the ongoing efforts to address their challenges.
Abdulmutalleb Haqani, the spokesperson of this MoMRA, says: “All the people who have been displaced due to conflicts and insecurity reached three million, and in these two years, one million of them moved to their main regions. There are many displaced people in every province, but most of them are in Kabul city.”
Haqani adds that 900,000 Afghans have returned to the country from Iran and Pakistan in the last three months.
OCHA has predicted that another 1.46 million Afghans will return to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan, in 2024.
