New influx of Afghans

About 20,000 Afghans who have entered to Pakistan over the last 10 days are mainly Pashtuns fleeing from ethnic harassment, an aid worker told IRIN on Wednesday.

"The reports coming out from the north [of Afghanistan] suggest that it is very difficult for Pashtuns there," said the aid worker, who asked not to be named. "People with guns and political backing are definitely picking up on Pashtuns," the worker added.

Northern Afghanistan is predominantly Tajik and Uzbek, but is also home to large Pashtun populations. Overall, Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates there are now nearly 20,000 Afghans at the edge of the Killi Faizo transit camp at the Chaman border post in Pakistan awaiting registration.

"This is a dramatic increase from the number that were there just a few days ago. Ten days ago we were seeing only about 5,000 persons waiting at the frontier," a UNHCR statement from Geneva said on Tuesday.

It said UNHCR staff at the Killi Faizo camp were registering about 400 families daily. "The remaining thousands wait just outside for their turn, living under makeshift plastic shelters that stretch as far the eye can see," the statement added.

The refugee agency said that so far this year, more than 50,000 Afghans had come to Pakistan seeking help. "The pace of this influx is truly alarming. The Afghans are also looking more and more destitute. What's more worrisome is that the new arrivals say that many more Afghans are behind them," the statement added.

The western aid worker said reports of harassment of Pashtuns in the north also raised concerns for the repatriation of Afghans as planned by the UNHCR to start in spring. "How will this impact on repatriation?" the aid worker asked.

The UNHCR statement said many of the new arrivals in Pakistan were Kuchis, Afghan nomads, who said they had run out of food due to the unrelenting effects of the drought.

"Some ethnic Pashtuns among the new arrivals tell stories of being robbed and intimidated in mixed villages in the north, often at the instigation of local commanders, before deciding to seek safety elsewhere. Most of the Afghans in this group come from Jowzjan, Faryab, and Badghis provinces," it added.

UNHCR assists more than 204,000 Afghans in 16 sites in Pakistan's border belt with Afghanistan. In all, UNHCR estimates that more than 250,000 Afghans have arrived in Pakistan since last September.