KABUL, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Six million Afghan nationals have returned to their homeland in less than three years, a migration reversal almost without parallel in recent decades, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Wednesday.
UNHCR described the scale of the homecoming as exceptional in recent history. The agency underscored that every return, wherever it occurs, must remain voluntary, safe and dignified.
Most of those who have come back crossed from neighboring Iran and Pakistan. Afghan authorities have responded with shelters, food distributions, non-food relief items and the allocation of more than 70,000 plots of land intended to give returnees a place to settle.
Yet the support has fallen short of the enormous needs. Many returnees report acute shortages of work, deepening poverty and daily economic hardship. They are appealing for substantially greater international assistance to ease their reintegration and improve living conditions. ■
