<

Many Afghans Return, Then Flee
Monday, October 28, 2002
By Ralph Joseph
The Washington Times

There are estimated to be 600,000 internally displaced persons -- the U.N. term for internal refugees -- in southern Afghanistan today, mainly Pashtuns who fled from the north after the Taliban collapse.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- WT
Thousands of Afghan refugees who had returned home earlier this year have returned to Pakistan, many complaining that they were unable to find jobs in Afghanistan and that life there was simply too difficult.

A spokesman for the United Nations confirmed in Islamabad confirmed that large numbers were back, "but there's no way to put a figure on it," because the returnees were keeping away from the refugee villages they had left earlier.

"We know they are coming, because we have our officials at the Pakistan border," said spokesman Jack Redden. The Pakistani authorities are looking the other way, "so long as they don't settle in the cities."

The urban areas, however, may be precisely where the returnees are settling again. One Afghan refugee who fled Jalalabad a few weeks ago because he could not find a job, said he used to work in a Karachi factory and that would try to get his job back.
(More: WashTimes.com News Source)
2002 © The Washington Times.

Dan