Hosting Afghan refugees

Talking to journalists in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, disclosed that last year wars and other crises pushed the number of people forcibly displaced to a two-decade high of 45.2 million. Conflicts in Syria, Somalia, and Afghanistan forced 1.1 million people to flee their homes across international borders while 6.5 million were displaced within their own countries. Illustrating the enormity of the problem he said, "That means one in each 4.1 seconds. So each time you blink, another person is forced to flee."
For the last 32 years, he added, the largest number of refugees comes from Afghanistan. World-wide, one refugee in four is Afghan. Unsurprisingly, therefore, Pakistan remained the world's top host nation in 2012 with 1.6 million, mostly Afghan, refugees. Local officials reckon 400,000 to 1million more Afghans may be living illegally in this country. Given that a large number of people cross the border everyday without documents, it is almost impossible to put an exact number on illegal residents.
Pakistan, of course, has a humanitarian responsibility to provide hospitality to people escaping war in their own land. For over three decades the country has hosted as many as 5 million Afghan refugees. They came from all sections of Afghan society, including a small segment of the wealthier people and educated middle-class, and those who owned some sort of assets they could use to generate incomes. Sharing ethnicity with the local people, many have preferred to live and work as unregistered refugees. But a large majority of the forcibly-displaced is poor, depending on the largesse of UNHCR. They are vulnerable to the recruitment drives of violent extremists challenging the writ of the host state for use as foot soldiers or suicide bombers. That is not to say these Afghans present a bigger threat than similarly placed local populations, only that the risk gets greater.
Surely, most of these refugees would be longing to go back to their homeland. In fact, between 2010 and 2012 as many as 229,000 refugees returned to their country under a UNHCR programme. But others remain hesitant, compelling Pakistan government to keep extending the departure deadline. As things stand, the Proof of Registration cards issued to the refugees are to become invalid come July 1, which means they must leave by then. Meanwhile, the Afghan minister for refugees and repatriations has been talking of a three-year timeline. He recently announced plans to establish, with UNHCR co-operation, 48 towns in 22 Afghan provinces where refugees returning from Pakistan and Iran are to be rehabilitated. Pending completion of that project, the Afghan government must create conditions to encourage its displaced people to come back to their homes.