Families recently returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan’s Kandahar province say poverty, illness among children and a lack of access to medical care have left them facing serious concerns as winter approaches, while local Taliban authorities say preparations have been made to assist them.
As reported by IRAF, citing Afghan media, returnees currently living in temporary tents in Kandahar say that without additional support, the coming winter will pose serious challenges to their lives.
They say their children are already suffering from serious illnesses, but they cannot afford the cost of medical treatment.
Mohammad Ashraf, a 40-year-old returnee, said poverty had left him unable to do more than endure his young daughter’s suffering from cancer.
He said he had previously lost two daughters to illness and feared that, without support, his third daughter could face the same fate.
Speaking to TOLOnews, Mohammad Ashraf said: “My daughter’s illness has exhausted me. At the government hospital, only the blood test is free and the rest of the services are paid. It is time for my daughter’s blood test, but I cannot afford it. I am also responsible for a family of 13. I ask for support.”
Many other recent returnees living in Kandahar have also expressed concern about the approaching winter.
Amir Jan, who lives with his family in one of the tents in Kandahar’s fifth district with very limited facilities, said: “We are very worried about the coming winter because we have had a difficult summer and our tents are on the verge of collapsing. We ask the United Nations, aid organizations, well-off citizens and the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) for help because our situation is very sensitive.”
However, Nematullah Olfat, deputy head of the Taliban’s Refugees and Returnees Affairs Directorate in Kandahar, said preparations had been made to support returnees during the coming winter.
He said shelter, food and non-food assistance had been set aside for families in the event of emergencies.
“The Refugees and Returnees Affairs Directorate has made preparations to support returnees, and food and non-food assistance will be provided during the coming winter,” he said.
According to information from the Spin Boldak Returnees Affairs Department, 32,000 people have entered Afghanistan through the border crossing over the past nine months, of whom 19,000 have settled in Kandahar.
Meanwhile, the media office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it provided $25 million in assistance to returnees from Iran and Pakistan last year, adding that support efforts are continuing.
