Afghanistan

Rudd Lubbers (L) and President Hamid Karzai

Hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees likely to return home this year – UN

17 January 2005
Hundreds of thousands of the estimated 3 million Afghans still living in exile in Pakistan and Iran will likely return home this year but the pace of repatriation to their war-ravaged country should not be speeded up, according to the head of the United Nations refugee agency.

Collection of heavy weapons continues apace in Afghanistan – UN

16 January 2005
Former fighters in Afghanistan are continuing to turn in their weapons at a “high rate,” a spokesman for the United Nations mission in the country (UNAMA) said today.
Ruud Lubbers in Kabul (file photo)

UN official visits Afghanistan in bid to solve refugee problem

13 January 2005
The head of the United Nations refugee agency is in Afghanistan holding talks with members of the new Government in the capital, Kabul, and visiting his agency’s operations in the provinces as part of an effort to solve the problem of an estimated 3 million Afghans still living in exile in Pakistan and Iran.
Ruud Lubbers

UN refugee chief begins Asian visit aimed at solving Afghan refugee problem

11 January 2005
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud Lubbers held talks with high-ranking Pakistani officials in Islamabad today at the start of a visit to the region in which he will seek to solve the problem of an estimated 3 million Afghans still living in exile in Pakistan and Iran.