The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), on Thursday, welcomed Pakistan’s decision to ease restrictions at the Afghanistan border which will facilitate smooth movement of people and goods into Afghanistan.
“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the recent announcement by Pakistani authorities to ease the movement of people and goods through official border points with Afghanistan,” the UN agency said in a statement.
UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said that the disruptions at the border left many Afghans, including women and children as well as those needing urgent medical care, stranded at the Chaman crossing for weeks.
“The new steps help reduce fears and risks that many will be pushed into the hands of human smugglers and traffickers, with deadly consequences, when official cross-border channels are shut,” he added.
According to a recent UN report, more than half of the Afghan population, nearly 23 million people are suffering from severe hunger. Thus the agency has requested the international community to immediately work for improving the financial situations of the war-ravaged citizens of Afghanistan, both within and outside the country. This is important because they will desperately need our support to survive the harsh winter coming their way.
The UN refugee agency is also arranging more airlifts of humanitarian supplies into the war-struck country. Earlier it sent three flights that recently landed in Termez, Uzbekistan.
“As we continue to scale up our humanitarian response, more resources are urgently needed ahead of the harsh winter that could bring deadly consequences for Afghans,” said Baloch.
Pakistan is the third-largest country after Turkey and Colombia to host Afghan refugees with over 1.4 million registered refugees from the neighboring country. The actual number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is estimated by the local government is around 3.5 million.
UNHCR also urged for increased international support to allow continued safety and protection of over 1.4 million Afghan refugees already registered in Pakistan.