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Pakistan Demands Aid for Its Millions of Afghan Refugees

Pakistan Demands Aid for Its Millions of Afghan Refugees
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Pakistan, home for decades to millions of Afghan refugees, called for the support of the international community as it warned that without help, the flow of those fleeing Afghanistan's decades-long war to Europe could increase.

Pakistan Demands Aid for Its Millions of Afghan Refugees

After the Soviet invasion in 1979, "five million Afghan refugees came to Pakistan," then with the support of the international community, said minister for border areas Abdul Qadir Baloch at a meeting devoted to Afghan refugees in the capital Islamabad Wednesday.

Thirty-seven years later, there are 1.5 million registered and about as many undocumented refugees, with growing insecurity in Afghanistan impeding voluntary return programs.

However, the international support vanished over the last decade, according to the minister.

Indeed, Pakistan receives just $5.20 per refugee each year in international aid to provide the displaced with healthcare and education -- and that is only for those who are registered.

The minister further denounced the meagerness of this aid compared to that provided to Turkey, which officially hosts 2.5 million refugees, including many Syrians.

Yet, Western countries are now beginning to recognize the problem, he said, "because refugees are pouring into Europe and 30 percent of them are Afghans."

"This percentage could increase," he warned, stressing that there was a limit to Pakistani tolerance for the problem.

Meanwhile, Afghan refugees living mainly in camps in the poorest rural areas of Pakistan exist in administrative uncertainty because of the short duration of residence permits issued by the Pakistani authorities, who regularly threaten to deport them.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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