Afghan Refugee Dilemma

In the last ten weeks almost 52,000 Afghans living in Pakistan have packed up their belongings and crossed the border into Afghanistan. There are two possible reasons for the exodus - 1) the Pakistan military is running operations against militants in the vicinity of refugee camps, 2) the Pakistan government has decided to conduct a repatriation campaign for Afghan refugees, and 3) time is running out for the validity of ID cards for registered refugees in Pakistan. A big problem for the refugees arriving in Afghanistan is the lack of an Afghan government program to receive and resettle refugees and diminished international humanitarian aid for arriving refugees. Christine Roehrs of the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) has been looking into the current politics around the Afghan refugees in Pakistan and the fate that awaits the returnees in their home country of Afghanistan.

Read Christine's article in "The Refugee Dilemma: Afghans in Pakistan between expulsion and failing aid schemes", AAN, March 9, 2015.