UN reports sharp rise in number of Afghans massed at Pakistani border

The United Nations refugee agency today reported a sharp rise in the number of Afghans – now at 20,000 – who are massed at the Chaman border crossing in Pakistan waiting to be registered.

“This is a dramatic increase from the number that were there just a few days ago,” agency spokesman Kris Janowski told reporters in Geneva. “Ten days ago we were seeing only about 5,000 persons waiting at the frontier.”

Staff from UNHCR are working to register some 400 families in the area each day. “The remaining thousands wait just outside for their turn, living under makeshift plastic shelters that stretch as far as the eye can see,” said Mr. Janowski. The agency is providing them with relief supplies such as food, water and blankets.

The Chaman border crossing is just one area where UNHCR is caring for Afghans. In southern Balochistan Province alone, the agency is helping an additional 144,000 people.

Mr. Janowski expressed concern about the large-scale exodus of Afghans to Pakistan. “The pace of this influx is truly alarming,” he said, noting that some 50,000 people had left so far this year. “The Afghans are also looking more and more destitute.”

The spokesman blamed the trend on drought and insecurity. “Many of the new arrivals are Kuchis – Afghan nomads – who say they’ve run out of food due to the unrelenting effects of the drought,” he noted. “Some ethnic Pashtuns among the new arrivals tell stories of being robbed and intimidated in mixed villages in the north, often at the instigation of local commanders, before deciding to seek safety elsewhere.”

UNHCR lauded Pakistan for its cooperation in allowing the Afghans to enter the country. At the same time, Mr. Janowski cautioned that more must be done inside Afghanistan both to alleviate the effects of the drought and to ensure that banditry and security are better controlled.

Meanwhile, on the political front, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, met this morning in Paris with the Chief of Staff of the French Army. Mr. Brahimi is in France on a three-day visit at the invitation of the country's Government.