More than two million return home this year

As the year ends, more than two million Afghan refugees and displaced persons have returned to their country and communities from the neighbouring states and camps inside Afghanistan in one of the largest repatriation efforts in decades. "It's more than we initially expected. Of course, we do not promote [repatriation] or push people to go back to their country," Maki Shinohara, a spokeswoman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday. According to the refugee agency, more than 1.8 million Afghans went home with the help of UNHCR from Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian states. Some 250,000 Afghans returned to their places of origin from the displacement camps across Afghanistan. In addition, another 200,000 displaced Afghans rejoined their original communities without any assistance. UNHCR initially planned for some 1.2 million Afghans to return home, but the returnees exceeded that number by June, only 15 weeks after the beginning of the operation. "It is a good sign for the future of Afghanistan," Shinohara said. Those returning to date have received assistance in transportation and a cash grant of between US$ 5 and $30 depending on the size of the family and the length of their journey. In addition to this, plastic sheeting, hygienic items and wheat flour from the UN World Food Programme were provided. Of the two million returnees, more than 1.5 million returned from Pakistan, followed by about 300,000 from Iran. A further 9,000 Afghans returned from its northern Central Asian neighbour, Tajikistan, another 283 from Turkmenistan, 93 from Uzbekistan, and 68 from Kyrgyzstan. Repatriation levels, however, have dropped significantly since the onset of winter. According to UNHCR, this return to Afghanistan was the largest such repatriation in three decades - from the time that the 10 million people who had fled from the disintegrating region of East Pakistan into India in the early 1970s and then returned to the newly created state of Bangladesh. Repatriation is set to continue into 2003 with a further 1.5 million Afghans due to return. However, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers has cautioned that "huge tasks lie ahead". Around 4 million Afghans remain abroad, and with an anticipated budget of around $200 million for next year, UNHCR is expected to help in getting them home. The top UNHCR official in Afghanistan, Filippo Grandi, recently warned that lack of adequate funding could jeopardise repatriations planned for next year. "2003 has to be the year of development and reconstruction," Grandi told reporters in Geneva, adding that immediate progress in development and reconstruction, as well as better security, were key to the success of the international effort to put Afghanistan back on track.