Others are traumatized by recent experience and cannot imagine re-starting life or work in a place where travel down a highway can result in extortion or injury either at the hands of bandits, or of security forces ostensibly under the control of the local commander. Some have specific fears linked to their membership in one of Afghanistan's ethnic groups, or their past experience of living under the control of one of Afghanistan's many local commanders. Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, many Afghan refugees today fear to return home, recalling the fractious times that characterized the pre-Taliban era in Afghanistan. Recently, thousands more Afghans have entered Pakistan and sought entry to Iran to escape generalized conditions of insecurity, factional conflict, and the U.S.-led bombing campaign that began in October 2001. MAP OF REFUGEE AND IDP CAMPS DISCUSSED IN THE REPORTĪt least three and a half million Afghans are currently refugees in Pakistan and Iran, 1 having been displaced from their homes by more than twenty-two years of civil strife, devastation, and political repression. We were just like little birds in a cage, with all this noise and destruction going on all around us." "The bombing was so strong and we were so afraid to leave our homes. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. They also endured beatings by Pakistani police when queuing for food in camps. Once inside Pakistan, refugees were harassed and imprisoned because they lacked identity documents. At official crossing points, families were beaten back, or languished in squalor without food, water or latrines-hoping to be let in. Refugees were beaten at unofficial checkpoints when they could not afford to pay extortionate bribes. Refugees interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Pakistan described the human toll caused by that government's treatment of the refugee population: With borders closed, most refugees had to resort to dangerous and unofficial routes into Pakistan. Although one hundred forty thousand Afghans went home from Pakistan and Iran in the past six weeks, fifty thousand new refugees fled Afghanistan to Pakistan during the same time period. There remain three and a half million refugees in Pakistan and Iran, the vast majority of whom arrived before the current armed conflict. The decades long Afghan refugee emergency did not end with the fall of the Taliban. Human Rights Watch interviewed many refugees, including members of various ethnic groups, and women and girls, who fear continuing human rights abuses inside Afghanistan. The Human Rights Watch report, "Closed Door Policy: Afghan Refugees in Pakistan and Iran," cautions against a hasty repatriation of Afghan refugees while conditions in Afghanistan remain unstable. Human Rights Watch, Closed Door Policy: Afghan Refugees in Pakistan and Iran, 27 February 2002, G1402, available at:
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