It is still unclear at the time of writing whether there will be an international military presence after 2014, and the diplomatic atmosphere has long been marked by uncertainty and strained relations between the government and troop-contributing nations. These are,…
Thousands of families from Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and a number of other provinces in southern Afghanistan have reportedly recently returned to their home districts from the cities where they had sought refuge for months and even years. However, the conditions…
A group of people in eastern Afghanistan – known to the authorities and others as Bangriwala or Vangawala in this area – have reported recently been forcibly relocated because of their lack of identity documents. These people lead a nomadic…
On 25 November 2013, the Government of Afghanistan approved a National IDP Policy[1] which had been nearly two years in the making. In the context of some 500,000 Afghans internally displaced as a result of conflict, with perhaps a further…
Afghan refugees long constituted the world’s largest refugee population and one of the most protracted situations in the world. They have also been the subject of the largest repatriation ever undertaken – which is still ongoing. Since 2002 more than…
Rapid urbanisation trends in Afghanistan mirror their global counterparts. IDPs in Afghanistan are also increasingly taking refuge in cities whether on a short- or longer-term basis in search of security, greater access to public services, livelihood opportunities and kinship networks…
Afghans continue today to represent the world’s largest protracted refugee situation, with Pakistan and Iran still hosting some 2.5 million Afghan registered refugees, with equivalent numbers of unregistered refugees also expected to be present in both host countries. Some 75%…
It is unclear what impact NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan will have on the 1.6 million registered and estimated 1 million unregistered Afghans still residing in Pakistan. The voluntary return in safety and dignity of all Afghans has always been the…
There are an estimated 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees and one to two million undocumented Afghans in Pakistan. After 2001 the Government of Pakistan no longer recognised Afghans entering Pakistan as refugees, and these undocumented Afghans have no legal protection.…
While the key factors impeding return are well understood (security, economic opportunities and access to housing and basic services), there remain significant knowledge gaps relating to many social and personal aspects of the return and reintegration stages of the displacement…