The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation reported that more than 40,000 Afghan refugees have returned to the country from Pakistan, Iran and Turkey since January 1st.

Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, a spokesman for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, told TOLOnews that most of these refugees were deported and some of them left voluntarily.

The spokesman said: “Since January 1st, 42,000 refugees have returned to the country -- they have returned to the country in a forced and voluntary manner.”

Meanwhile, newly returned refugees have said that they are dealing with many challenges and the caretaker government should address these challenges as soon as possible.
 
Eighty-year-old Shah Daraz Khan, who returned from Pakistan with 18 members of his family, said that he has no shelter and has been living under a tent in the corner of Kabul since his return.

Shah Daraz Khan, said: “I have no home, no work, no other things, and no means to work and help. No institution helped us and also the Islamic Emirate has not helped us yet.”

A number of newly expelled refugees from Pakistan have also asked the interim government to talk to the Pakistani authorities to stop the process of deporting refugees from Pakistan.

“Our demand from Pakistan is to tolerate Afghan refugees until the end of winter,” said Basit, an expelled refugee.

“We ask the Islamic Emirate to talk to Pakistan to stop the expulsion of Afghan refugees until the end of winter because there are many challenges and winter must pass,” said Abdul Rahman, another expelled refugee.

According to the statistics of the ministry, more than 5 million Afghan refugees live in Iran and more than 3 million refugees live in Pakistan.