Observer Report
Islamabad
China has planned to provide aid medical equipment worth $ 250,000 to Afghan refugees in Pakistan this year for improving their living conditions, reports Gwadar Pro, quoting ambassador Yao Jing, as having said here at the Refugees’ summit. As a responsible leading power and an important neighbor of Afghanistan, China has been cooperating with the United Nations, Pakistan, Iran and other countries to provide assistance to Afghan refugees. In 2019, China donated about US $ 350,000 to the Afghanistan Red Crescent. Through the multilateral channels, China has provided US $ 1.3 million goods to Afghan refugees in Pakistan through the Pakistani government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refuges (UNHCR).”
The issue of Afghan refugee, ambassador Yao Jing said, was one of the largest and longest-running refugee crisis in history. “As a result of more than 40 years of war and conflict, 2.7 million Afghan refugees are currently scattered in more than 70 countries around the world. From 2002 to 2017, a total of 5.24 million refugees returned to Afghanistan, but the gap between humanitarian relief needs and funding continued to widen, and the Afghan refugee resettlement fee gap is as high as US $ 530 million.
Because of the lack of living skills and jobs, many refugees who have returned to Afghanistan have to leave their homes again and continue a displaced life,” Yao Jing said. He pinpointed, “the opportunity to tackle the Afghan refugee issue appears. The situation in Afghanistan has entered a critical juncture. The United States and the Afghan Taliban are expected to reach a peace agreement soon, which will pave the way for the political parties in Afghanistan to start the intra-Afghan negotiation on the future domestic political arrangements.”
He said the reconciliation negotiation will lead to the early peace in Afghanistan and start the reconstruction of Afghan. Pakistan and Afghanistan, Yao Jing said, “have reached significant consensus on the settlement of Afghan refugee issue within the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS). Both sides have closely coordinated and cooperated in refugee registration and repatriation.
