Number Of Afghan Returnees From Pakistan Increasing

Afghan refugees in Bajaur, Pakistan (file photo) (official site) 16 December 2005 -- The United Nations says nearly 450,000 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan this year, the highest number since 2002.

Indrika Ratwatte, an official with the United Nations refugee agency in the Pakistani city of Islamabad, said on 15 December that since the fall of the Taliban in 2002, more than 2.7 million Afghan refugees have returned home under the agency's voluntary repatriation program. A slightly smaller number -- 2.6 million -- still live in Pakistan.

(dpa)