Pakistan Calls For Conference On Resettlement Of Afghan Refugees In Western Countries

Mohammad Abbas Khan, Pakistan's chief commissioner for refugees, said on Tuesday that an international conference should be held to increase the acceptance of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan by Western countries.

Khan said that Western countries should expedite the process of accepting Afghan applicants waiting in Pakistan.

According to the Dawn newspaper, Khan said that the conference will discuss challenges such as the voluntary return of refugees to Afghanistan and their resettlement in third countries.

He said that a trilateral meeting with the Taliban and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will be held soon to discuss the challenges of Afghan refugees.

Khan stated that about 600,000 Afghan applicants have now registered with the UNHCR in Pakistan for resettlement in Western countries.

Criticising the low admission of Afghan refugees this year, the Pakistani official said that the quota of applicants registered with the United Nations for resettlement this year was only 8,000.

Pointing to Afghanistan's fragile and limited infrastructure for the return of Afghan refugees to the country, he said that the reintegration of Afghan citizens into their country has become a challenging proposition.

The Pakistani official clarified that Afghanistan's capacity to absorb returning refugees is very limited.

According to statistics, the first round of deportations of Afghan refugees began in October last year, when about 600,000 Afghan refugees were deported from Pakistan.

The United Nations also reported earlier that 1.3 million Afghan refugees are currently living in Pakistan with POR cards, which was recently renewed by the Pakistani government for another year.