Afghan Refugee Returns Reach 4.2 Million

More than half of the Afghan refugees in camps in Pakistan and Iran have returned 23 September 2005 -- The United Nations refugee agency today said that the number of Afghan exiles returning home from Pakistan and Iran has topped 4.2 million.

Ron Redmond, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says 415,000 Afghan refugees returned from Iran and Pakistan this year.

The UNHCR said around 3 million Afghans still live in Pakistan, according to a census there earlier this year. An estimated 900,000 refugees still live in Iran.

(AFP/Reuters)