Repatriation from Iran continues

Mother-of-five Sabira, is returning to Afghanistan’s capital Kabul after nearly a decade in exile in neighbouring Iran, one of more than 100,000 Afghans who have made the journey back home in almost four months. "We are tired of being refugees in foreign countries," she told IRIN, speaking at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) repatriation centre at the Islam Qala border crossing with Iran in western Afghanistan. "We look forward to a new life in our own country." But Sabira’s seven-member family, including her husband and five young children, face an uncertain future having lost their home in Kabul to factional fighting in the early 1990s. "I am happy to return but am concerned about a lot of things," she said. The family’s hopes hinge on Sabira’s husband reclaiming his teaching job in Kabul - a prospect which is looking increasingly unlikely. UNHCR estimates that more than 104,000 Afghans have already returned from Iran since the joint voluntary repatriation programme began 9 April. As part of the assistance package returnees receive food and non-food related items, as well as a small monetary grant. On average more than 6,000 people return through Islam Qala a week, the main border crossing point along the 900 km plus porous frontier between the two countries. According to UNHCR in the Iranian capital, Tehran, the latest statistical analysis of those registering at the voluntary repatriation centres (VRCs) shows that the largest group of agency-assisted returnees by far are single men between the ages of 18 and 25 - constituting 45 percent of all those who had registered up to mid July. However, after the first 14 weeks a substantial decrease in the number of people returning to Afghanistan without families was noted. Most of those returning to date - close to 80 percent - have been in Iran for between one and three years. 25-year-old Asadullah fled his home in Afghanistan’s central Kapisa province five years back when the hard line Taliban took over. Abandoning his studies, he worked as a mason for a few dollars a day in Tehran. "I want to continue my studies. I don’t want to go back to Iran," he told IRIN. Asadullah felt that once normalcy returned to Afghanistan, his family would restart farming and live a normal life. Commenting on the process, Katy Grant, UNHCR’s repatriation officer in Herat told IRIN that with the return of well over 25 percent of the planned repatriation numbers, the programme was well underway. "Things are improving and it’s working very well," she said. "Most people are back because there is a genuine desire to return home," she explained. The returnees were a mix of seasonal workers and families, some of whom even left stable income jobs back in Iran, she added. Sustainability and reintegration are the key challenges ahead for repatriation. "Durable integration is the greatest challenge," she said. UNHCR expects a possible crisis if its funding requirements were not met quickly. Kabul and Herat are the main destination from Iran, with most returnees coming from the Iranian provinces of Tehran, Zahedan and Kerman provinces. In just five months, the refugee agency estimates that cumulatively more than 1.4 million Afghans have retuned home from Pakistan, Iran and the Central Asian republics. With 1.3 million returning from Pakistan alone, the figure there is triple the number originally anticipated. Prior to September 11, the UN estimated more than 2 million Afghan refugees lived in Iran. UNHCR plans to assist the repatriation of some 400,000 Afghan refugees this year.