repatriation and displacement overwhelms wartorn afghanistan
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Repatriation and displacement overwhelms war-torn Afghanistan

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Repatriation and displacement overwhelms war-torn Afghanistan

Children warm themselves with a blanket inside a mud
Jalalabad - Arab Today

 Marooned in a tent billowing in the winter wind, Gul Pari’s family is among thousands of war-displaced Afghans crammed into settlements alongside a flood of returning refugees, in a double-pronged humanitarian crisis engulfing the country.

Conflict-torn Afghanistan is struggling to reabsorb large masses of refugees and failed asylum seekers being sent back from Pakistan, Europe and Iran, joining more than half a million others uprooted by war.

Clutching meagre household possessions, often with small children in tow, unprecedented numbers like Gul Pari seek refuge in crowded cities such as eastern Jalalabad, straining public resources that are already near breaking point.

“We are praying our tent does not fall down in the winter rain,” the mother-of-four said, as her children huddled around a kettle inside the fragile shelter cobbled together from rags.

Gul Pari’s family was forced to flee the badlands of Pachiragram district in Nangarhar, bordering Pakistan, where the Daesh group has ushered in a new age of barbarity with beheadings, arson attacks, and by blowing up some enemies with explosives buried beneath them.

More horrifying, Gul Pari said, was their diktat in some areas to families with unmarried daughters or widows to raise white flags over their houses, marking the women as wives for new Daesh recruits.

“It is better to live in misery like this than to become a victim of Daesh,” Gul Pari said.

Officials say Daesh is on the retreat owing to a sustained campaign of US airstrikes, but the UN has documented an alarming increase in attacks by the groups on civilians, perhaps evident in the steady number of people fleeing areas with their presence.

As violence spiked last year across Afghanistan, about 1,700 people were displaced every day from their homes, hitting a record annual figure of more than 600,000, according to the United Nations.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees separately have returned from Iran and, particularly, Pakistan, a regional nemesis cracking down on undocumented Afghan refugees. Many of them are stuck in limbo as their home districts are torn by insecurity.

In a perfect storm, the European Union last year signed an agreement with Kabul to return Afghans whose asylum appeals are rejected, which could result in tens of thousands of repatriations.

“2016 was a record year for both displacement and returns, and together these challenges are having a serious impact on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan,” said Matt Graydon, spokesman of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“In addition, there is the compounded challenge of returnees becoming IDPs (internally displaced persons) because they are unable to go back to their area of origin due to fighting.”

The numbers are expected to rise this year, forcing the UN to appeal for $550 million in emergency aid, though after decades of war and the competing crisis in Syria, donor fatigue has set in.

A staggering 9.3 million people, or a third of the population, will need humanitarian assistance this year, a 13 percent increase from 2016.

The Afghan government, heavily reliant on foreign aid, has promised refugees parcels of land and cash grants, but is struggling to deliver.

The growing influx of people has sent living costs soaring and daily wages falling in many areas.

Laurence Hart, IOM’s chief in Afghanistan, told AFP there was evidence returnees were moving to unsafe provinces such as Laghman, Kunar and Kunduz in search of a more affordable refuge.

Safe options are decreasing as the government is steadily losing territory to insurgents. Only slightly more than half of the country’s districts are under government control or influence, according to US watchdog SIGAR.

As such, said Swedish ambassador to Afghanistan Anders Sjoberg, humanitarian aid is no longer a short-term solution but a “band-aid” for the unresolved conflict.

Abdul Qadir, 38, returned to his homeland with a sense of foreboding after 27 years in Pakistan.

Living in a mud-brick home on a barren desert plot near Jalalabad, with hundreds of other returnees, frequent clashes have erupted with local residents who accuse them of usurping their land.

“My children are sick from the untreated water from the village pond. There are no schools here, no hospitals, no mosques, no dignity,” Qadir told journalists.

“We went to Pakistan to flee war and we have come back to war.

source : gulfnews

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

repatriation and displacement overwhelms wartorn afghanistan repatriation and displacement overwhelms wartorn afghanistan

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

repatriation and displacement overwhelms wartorn afghanistan repatriation and displacement overwhelms wartorn afghanistan

 



GMT 12:47 2016 Thursday ,01 September

'La La Land' musical masterpiece dazzles Venice film fest

GMT 12:42 2017 Monday ,20 February

Dalia al-Behairy begins 'Yawmiyat Zoga Mafrosa'

GMT 19:01 2017 Wednesday ,30 August

Oil prices down as US reels from Harvey

GMT 04:19 2017 Monday ,08 May

National forces attack mercenaries in Taiz

GMT 19:21 2017 Sunday ,07 May

Iranian Film Week opens in Baghdad

GMT 21:33 2017 Sunday ,30 July

Arab Quartet meeting kicks off in Bahrain

GMT 17:17 2016 Friday ,07 October

Aleppo bleeds as US and Russia spar

GMT 12:03 2015 Monday ,21 December

Nepal protester killed in constitutional crisis clash

GMT 09:47 2016 Thursday ,22 December

Trump vows to cut F-35 spending, as leaked memo

GMT 21:44 2017 Friday ,15 December

King establishes Hawar Development Committee

GMT 20:57 2017 Tuesday ,16 May

Naval Forces rescue 23 tourists in Hurghada

GMT 12:56 2017 Monday ,11 December

Lyon leave it late, Balotelli with Nice winner

GMT 06:18 2017 Thursday ,19 October

Russian delegation meets with Julphar chairman

GMT 21:20 2017 Monday ,23 October

Nasr, delegation of London Stock Exchange

GMT 14:40 2012 Saturday ,10 March

Magdy Al-Galad steps down

GMT 09:47 2017 Sunday ,12 March

Cat Camp in New York attracts cat lovers

GMT 14:57 2016 Friday ,09 September

Madonna, Ritchie settle child custody dispute

GMT 23:52 2017 Monday ,18 September

UAE economic growth boosting logistics sector
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday