More Afghans are likely to escape their homes due to rising violence, the UN refugee body warns on Tuesday, because the Taliban controls more areas in response to the withdrawal of US foreign troops.
“Afghanistan is on the verge of another humanitarian crisis.
This can be avoided.
This should be avoided,” Babar Baloch, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told the Geneva News Briefing.
“The failure to reach a peace agreement in Afghanistan and stem the current violence will lead to further displacement in the country, as well as neighboring countries and so on.” UNHCR said that around 270,000 Afghans had just been moved domestically since January, bringing a total population forced from their homes to more than 3.5 million.
Those who were forced to escape blame the security situation, extortion incidents by non-state armed groups, and improvised explosive devices (IED) on the main roads, and loss of income and interruptions with social services, said Baloch.
The number of civilian casualties has increased by 29% during the first quarter compared to 2020, UNHCR said, quoting the numbers of the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan.
“We urge the international community to increase support to the government and his Afghans and neighbors at this critical moment,” Baloch said.
US general leads the war in Afghanistan, Austin Miller, demeaning orders at a ceremony in the capital, Kabul, on Monday and quietly leaving the country, a symbolic end of the longest conflict in America.
US President Joe Biden has admitted that Afghan’s future is far from certain but said the Afghans must decide their own destiny.