UN conducts census to help return Afghan refugees

1/12/2005 2:50:00 PM GMT

The United Nations will carry out a census among Afghan refugees as an initial step toward the return of the estimated 3 million Afghans living in Pakistan and Iran, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Rudd Lubbers, said.

Lubbers added that the census will start next month and that it will include all Afghans who moved to Pakistan in the past 25 years.

The decision was taken yesterday when Lubbers met with Pakistani government officials in Islamabad. He is expected to arrive in Afghanistan today for talks with President Hamid Kharzai and government officials.

The UN said that the refugees will be asked whether they want to return to their homeland in the next 12 months.

Afghanistan's two decades of civil war and drought led to the world’s biggest refugee population when an estimated 6.5 million people escaped the country, mainly to Pakistan and Iran. The UN began a program in 2002 that helped at least 3.5 million Afghans to return to their country.

The UN estimates that almost 1 million refugees are living in Iran, at least 1 million others are in Pakistan and that “an unknown but substantial number'' are living in cities across Pakistan.

Some 850,000 Afghan refugees voted from Pakistan and Iran in Afghanistan’s first direct presidential elections, held on October 9. UN chief Kofi Annan said at the time that it was the largest out-of-country election in history.

Afghanistan seeks return of its displaced planes

In its attempt to rebuild its defense system, the Afghan government is asking its neighbors to return back its displaced planes.

The Afghan Defense Ministry is demanding the return of 26 aircrafts, nine helicopters, five bombers, eight fighters, two trainer jets and two transporters.

Officials in Kabul say that 19 pieces are in Pakistan and another seven in Uzbekistan.

"I believe the reaction of the neighbors will be friendly," Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Abdullah said.

Most of the aircrafts were made in Russia. Some of them were used for dramatic escapes, others were deliberately moved out of the country to save them from destruction and the rest were seized and used by the warring parties during the civil wars that followed the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan.

But U.S. raids damaged every plane when its forces entered the country three years ago.

Currently, the Afghan military possesses 28 old helicopters and transport planes. Russia overhauled 11 of the aircrafts in 2004.