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7/1/1992 - Return by Carol V. Rose

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUTWRITER SCONSENT CVR INSTITUTEOFCURRENTWORLDAFFAIRS Torkham Pakistan July RETURN Carol Rose An endless caravan heavily laden buses lorries donkeys moves black gates divide Afghanistan Pakistan border Torkham Bearded money changers alongside haggling turban fluctuations value Afghan currency Veiled women children crowded their fathers husbands brothers minute financial transactions before crossing border Nearby garishly painted Bedford trucks piled remnants Afghan refugee camps blankets window frames doors bricks wooden beams chickens occasional water buffalo After years Afghans going Since collapse Communist government Kabul April trickle people crossing border become human tidal As people return Afghanistan since beginning At present Afghans August making largest Remnants refugee A truck loaded voluntary repatriation tires chickens movement since World War beams Afghanistan Carol Rose ICWA fellow writing Northwest South Asia Since theInstituteofCurrentWorldAffairs theCrane RogersFoundation hasprovidedlong termfellowships enable outstanding young adults outside United States write about international areas issues Endowed bythelateCharlesR Crane theInstituteisalsosupportedbycontributionsfromlike mindedindividualsand foundations For Afghans journey beginning struggle rebuild their country their lives Ten I check Noor Moha farmer Konar province eastern Afghanistan All walls destroyed bombs fields mines I I going manage Despite ravaged condition village Noor Mohammed taking members extended family Here United Nations rations there If least homeland Mass repatriation tremendous burden agencies responsible A money changer Pakstan rupees assisting refugees We sells Afghan afghanis Torkham being stretched sides Robert Breen repatriation officer United Nations High Commissioner Refugees UNHCR There great concern about absorption capacity Afghanistan economy agricultural I people return quickly basic economic social issues survival DISAPPEARI NG IMAGES Throughout Pakistan frontier provinces there signs refugees leaving Afghan restaurants closing rents falling diesel taxis disappeared often turning later Afghan towns Business smiling money changer whose messengers bring latest currency values New York London Kabul Wild fluctuations value afghani currency Afghanistan fierce speculation making merchants wildly wealthy leaving amateur investors destitute But I struck abandoned refugee camps surrounding Peshawar Driving through Khorasan north I imagine Dresden looked Roofs windows doors taken walls crumbling Only rubble remains hundreds refugee homes stood months Most residents Khorasan Uzbek Turkoman thern Afghanistan returned after mujahideen seized Kabul Shops bustling Khorasan market The public water pumps ground At loading three Bedford trucks beams bricks which rebuild their homes Afghanistan I field where Uzbek riders played buzkashi horse rugby which riders scrum instead Hundreds spectators crowd bleachers watch every Friday afternoon Now field abandoned bleachers eroding On refugees cross border Afghanistan Soon rains signs flourished decade The Afghans built their homes indeed their lives plains which exiled As leave Earth seems reclaim desert THE DELUGE Hundreds Afghan crowd front National Bank Pakistani village Pabi jostling another doors In holds ration given registered Pakistani government refugee The entitles United Nations rations month Since July UNHCR offered rupees wheat refugee turns ration The called encashment program UNHCR program assist refugees repatriate putting money their pockets exchange taking rations During first program around families exchanged their ration cards money wheat This least people encashed Afghan outside UNHCR encashment center holding ration books exchange months The result situations violent flare local banks where UNHCR staff encashment centers It almost there banks Breen UNHCR repatriation officer We wheat weeks And constantly running money So UNHCR encashment offices least three times because money The program currently spends nearly million The donors responsive supportive making piedges money Breen explains The problem delivering money Breen estimates Proud holders ration books around ration books chance already exchanged which leaves another books The total estimated encashment program million third which received The encashment program designed refugees their transportation Afghanistan But single truck Afghanistan depending border people travel Last month international Organization Migration IOM signed contract UNHCR assist providing transportation Afghanistan people remote northern regions country The encashment program refugees Pakistan after Afghans longer registered given ration cards The United Nations estimates there USSR IRAN A fNDIA MAP OF THE AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN BORDER AREA unregistered refugees encashment program Nor encashment money sufficient cover basic rehabilitation Afghanistan rebuilding homes repairing irrigation channels clearing fields The program aimed transportation recognition Afghans freedom forth repair income their participation Pakistani economy Breen Despite difficulties facing returning Afghans there signs forced repatriation unlike situations Haiti Vietnam Burma parts Africa The strongest indication voluntary return physical return Breen But could become issue If there economic revival Afghanistan these people winter But refugees fleeing persecution economic migrants And Government Pakistan close border LIFE RETURNS TO AFGHANISTAN rural Afghanistan villagers getting difficult rebuilding their lives reconstructing homes destroyed aerial bombing clearing mines their ields digging irrigation channels In areas where there mines there water resurgence village There animals playing working fields Tom Harrington foreigners traveled extensively Afghanistan rural areas since Communist government working consultant United Nations needs assessment survey Afghanistan You functioning pumps water driven flour mills grinding recent harvest fields green recently harvested using tracto Harrington Afghan village returning rhythm beauty But Afghans normal There consistent image countryside looks right varies place place continues Harrington Some villages unscathed while others completely shattered irrigation water houses destroyed ields mined haven cultivated decade As close cities government areas completely leveled wreckage tanks personnel carriers trees utter An Afghan loads wooden roofbeams hopelessness In truck preparation certain areas reconstruction Afghanistan mines small grenade shaped bomblets dropped planes personnel mines stakes driven ground wires There estimated million mines Afghanistan United Nations least quarter million people maimed mines there decade In June least Afghans admitted Pakistani hospitals injuries sustained while Afqhanistan Nonetheless million pledged United nations clearing August forcing program unless money forthcoming De mining irrigation determine whether farmers their determines whether people A cartoonist nterpretation rehabilitation Afghanistan poppies harvest returning farmers From Front Post newspaper their villages Harrington The Afghan people courage dangers simply technical financial resources rebuild roads bridges clear mines construct large irrigation channels These massive public works projects require money international community Obtaining sufficient funds rebuild Afghanistan June UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali appealed million humanitarian Afghanistan So million received The U S Congress meanwhile limits Afghanistan until U S Agency International Development certifies Kabul government taken steps trade The sentiment placed since Afghanistan recently surpassed Burma world leading grower poppies plant opium heroin The problem government Kabul control countryside Moreover there outside financial assistance Afghan farmers little choice poppies order survive Zara War middle Afghan eastern province Nangarhar Before police officer farmer Since coming Pakistan years worked month breaking rocks construction Now going My house Afghanistan destroyed fields mined grape vines The I afford rebuild house family farming poppies hashish I selling heroin I money Another challenge Afghanistan teaching generation known fight equally peace It difficult transition people spent years waging Harrington A young Afghan whose identity defined carrying weapon being warrior without prospects employment inclination another style I villagers clearing canal digging shovels standing guard automatic rifles Putting taking might exciting But Afghans reverse those proportions A amily loads bricks puppy truck return Afghanistan KABUL IN CRISIS While Afghan countryside returns normal Kabul continues island confusion chaos For Ashola Arif returning Afghan capital expected There money anyone Arif Every meters Kabul party control I stayed inside three rockets around house The shops bazaar closed finished A people Kabul leaving Soon mujahideen seized power Kabul driving Communist government Najib mujahideen started ighting another On internecine battle commander Ahmad Shah Masood member minority Tajik ethnic group northern Afghanistan In order seize Kabul Masood joined forces members former government militia Uzbek named Rashid Dostum The militiamen called Gilam Jam carpet thieves their tendency abandon steal carpets With militia largest heavily armed fighting force Afghanistan Leading opposition Masood Dostum alliance Hezb Islami party Gulbadin Hekmatyar Representing majority Pushtun populat Afghanistan Hekmatyar called ouster Gilam Jam Kabul impossible demand given militia fighting strength Hekmatyar remains outskirts Kabul exchanging rocket militia skirmishes killed scores Afghan civilians Mujahideen militiamen attacked Hindu Sikh families lived Afghanistan decades working shopkeepers money lenders According BBC percent Hindu Sikh population Kabul saying Mujahideen abducted their women looted their homes The United Nations confronting influx former Communist government officials Afghanistan seeking asylum Pakistan abroad In addition ethnic power struggles attacks religious minorities pitched street battles broken between groups representing Sunni Muslims Shia Muslims A garishly painted heavily laden Bedfo truck breaks Afghanistan For three mostly Sunni Pushtuns Shias fighting street Arif Everyone walks outside risks having party checked If Shia Pushtuns arrest If Pushtun Shia arrest They taken people order trade later Shaking I think something getting seats government Many Afghans doesn matter Kabul Islamic government We strong government Kabul Awal Khan farmer preparing family Paktia province eastern Afghanistan We shura council elders village peace We Communists central government Kabul While emotional resentment Kabul deeply rooted A fghan history there question Kabul plays important reconstruction A unified central government necessary negotiate foreign assistance investment trade As fighting Kabul continues Afghanistan difficulty attracting professionals technicians civil servants needed country THE FORSAKEN Amid rubble abandoned houses Surkhaps refugee stands single compound I distant middle Baluchistan desert become friend Somargul eldest sister Afghan family I lived purdah seclusion See CVR As before I disguise wearing encompassing burqa avoid detection Pakistani police Because frequent tribal clashes foreigners allowed As ferries through central bazaar I through ering burqa deserted shops homes It appears refugees waves stretches completely abandoned while others remain people As Somargul house I family compound still standing neighborhood The abandoned streets Khorason refugee When I entered inner courtyard Somargul sisters embrace usher central salon As before children gather round I I distribute gifts coloring books scarves chocolates while Somargul tells since Kabul Everyone Our neighbors village together We people travel three hours Quetta vegetables It problem because almost impossible taxis anymore transportation It become dangerous continues But Kandahar Afghanistan completely destroyed fields mined There place return there We looked house Quetta expensive there Somargul family ration cards tried encash turned because crowds Since costs money encashment center nearest trying instead Somargul I brothers Only rubble remains where houses stood three months western agency With cutbacks international assistance programs however Afghans becoming scarce increases Please It cannot afford leave The refugee family I Khorasan refugee north Peshawar As I nearly empty invites inside women family Inside purdah compound blankets stacked preparation imminent departure The water leave women offers sweetened green What Our house Afghanistan bombed haven enough money transport beams truck Afghanistan But dangerous There amilies thieves night Another woman introduces twelve asking medical results epilepsy There medicine Afghanistan mother Do think Cecilia Ryberg social service officer worked three years joint assignment UNHCR Swedish Save C hildren One concerns plight Afghans cannot Some people choice government turns But there second group people desperate leave panicking because people around going cannot afford leave Ryberg When people leave taking dismantling welIs demolishing houses It obvious those still being behind Many those cannot return their Aghans Others simply increasingly difficult survive Pakistan rations agenc Kabul disappear We finding vulnerable populations emerging before Ryberg There widows refuse remarriage their husband brother accordance Islamic people previ ously supported their tribes abandoned And course there disabled medical Pakistan Ryberg predicts traditional tribal structures sharing rations living space weakened economic crunch facing returning families I think people becoming actually family So United Nations Government Pakistan given extra assistance these refugees Nor there plans refugees central camps where services could streamlined families would vulnerable attack bandits No wants spend money moving refugees camps UNHCR official Quetta If spend money Afghanistan Meantime UNHCR continues provide basic services water basic health units camps Say Ryberg To would forced repatriation Long scheduled reductions rations wheat edible kerosene interpreted refugees longer welcome Pakistan Moreover pressure UN government assist returning refugees diverted manpower money those still We pulling staff encashment everything happening camps Breen A break water supply repair refugees think cutting water Any change routine interpreted change policy Nonetheless Ryberg early provide additional financial assistance Afghans behind assist vulnerable groups wealthy people sneak The local Malik council ieader select sister needy We situation stabiiize count needs At begin deveioping contingency involving vulnerable groups But decision requiring coordination between UN agencies taken higher levels within United Nations Whatever coordinated happening other border Peering through rubble Khorasan Photos C Rose refugee Received Hanover Auqust