After Decades, Pakistan Forces Thousands of Afghans to Leave

Zalmay Rasul, Afghanistan's national security adviser, said in an interview in Kabul last week that the government there is working to ensure a smooth return of Afghan refugees. Repatriation efforts have been complicated, however, because many Afghans are returning to conflict areas. "The return of refugees has already happened, and we are ready to accept those refugees who are coming," Rasul said. "We need to have at least a humanitarian infrastructure in place, however, to receive them."

According to U.N. and Pakistani government officials, the number of Afghan refugees who have returned to their country since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan in late 2001 has slowed, while international aid for refugees has dropped precipitously in the wake of the fighting. About 1.6 million refugees left the camps for Afghanistan in 2002 compared with 133,000 in 2006, according to U.N. data.

Meanwhile, aid donated by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has decreased from $28.9 million in 2001 to $9.3 million in 2007, a drop of 68 percent, a Pakistani government official said. "This is a very troubling aspect for us -- that the world and the donors are losing interest in the refugee problem. There is donor fatigue in the international community, yet they are asking us to do more and more," said Abdul Rauf Khan, the outgoing chief commissioner for Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

As Pakistan rushes to close the settlements, refugees are left with scant economic resources, according to Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the U.N. commissioner's office in Pakistan. "This is a forgotten humanitarian crisis, yet the refugees are a major player in stabilizing the region," Tan said. "If you push them out in one go, then you destabilize the region. If you get them to go gradually, then there can be peace and stability."

Refugees who agree to return to Afghanistan receive about $100 each from the U.N. refugee agency to aid in the journey home. But with food, energy and lodging prices on the rise on both sides of the border, the money barely pays for transportation, several refugees at the camp said.

Abdullah, a bookseller at Jalozai, was an infant when his family moved to the settlement in the late 1980s. "Our whole extended family has been living here, and this camp is now like our ancestral village. We have seen the ups and downs of life here, with marriages and deaths in the family," said Abdullah, who like many ethnic Pashtuns uses only one name.

His family has been looking for a new home in Peshawar or its suburbs but has not found anything affordable. Government workers have already bulldozed the bookstore that he, his wife and four children relied on for income.

"My shop is demolished, but my home is still there," Abdullah said. "I will be the last person to leave this place."

Special correspondent Imtiaz Ali in Peshawar contributed to this report.