ISLAMABAD: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi urged Pakistan on Friday to take in people from neighboring Afghanistan who may not have proper documents to enter the country but could be at risk in war-torn Afghanistan.
International humanitarian agencies have been struggling to provide food, shelter and medicines to people in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country on August 15.
Among them, the UN refugee agency is trying to convince Afghanistan’s neighboring states to take in displaced residents of the war-torn country who could be vulnerable to violence under the Taliban rule.
“My message to Pakistani government is that there may be [Afghan] people who may have specific needs,” Grandi said while addressing a news conference in Islamabad. “If you send them back, because they don’t have proper documentation, they may be at risk.”
Pakistan is already hosting 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees, making it the third largest host country of displaced people in the world. Official estimates suggest there may be one million more unregistered Afghan nationals in the country as well.
“I think that if there are specific cases of refugees that have specific needs or protection needs, I appeal to the humanitarian spirit here in the country to ensure that those needs are listened to and addressed,” the UN official said.
Sharing Pakistan’s views, Grandi said the international community would need to do “everything possible” inside Afghanistan to avoid a collapse of the country and prevent violence, so that “we don’t have to deal with another refugee crisis after forty years.”
He expressed confidence that the UN would be able to avert the refugee crisis with the help of the international community.
“Should it happen we need to be prepared,” he said. “These flows will be inside Afghanistan or towards the borders, but for the time being preventing this from happening should be our strong focus.”
Agreeing with Pakistan’s stance that all those coming in from Afghanistan should be properly documented, he said: “Among those that are not properly documented, may be cases that if you send them back, they are at risk on the other side.”
He said the future of Afghanistan was uncertain and his agency was engaging with the Taliban to save the war-torn country from further disasters and protect the region from greater instability.
“I am representing a humanitarian agency,” he said. “Engagement and discussions [with the Taliban] don’t mean recognition. I cannot recognize any government. It is a state that recognizes other states not a United Nations agency, so my talk is purely on humanitarian grounds.”
He thanked Pakistan for facilitating humanitarian operations in Afghanistan and helping with the evacuation of thousands of Western nationals and vulnerable Afghans after the Kabul takeover.
“Pakistan will play a very important role for support to humanitarian operations inside Afghanistan, and I’m very grateful for that,” he added.
