Afghanistan Assists Pakistani Refugees

UNCLAS KABUL 000085 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/FO DAS CAMP, SCA/A, PRM STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR JWOOD OSD FOR SHIVERS CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICCENT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREF PREL PHUM PK AF SUBJECT: Afghanistan Assists Pakistani Refugees Ref: A - Kabul 28 ¶1. (U) The Afghan government and international community - through the auspices of the Afghan Red Crescent and an Afghan government interagency disaster management committee - are providing food, tents, blankets, fuel, cash, and other humanitarian assistance to the families crossing the border to escape recent Sunni-Shia violence in Pakistan's Kurram Agency (Ref A). Officials estimate 1,000 families have sought refuge in Khost and Paktia provinces, with more arriving. Afghan officials and tribal elders from the affected provinces have sent a letter to the Joint Afghan-Pakistani Peace Jirga Commission requesting its intervention to resolve the dispute in Kurram Agency. ¶2. (SBU) The Afghan government and UN officials are treating the exodus as a short-term emergency, but warn that some provincial families are hosting five or six refugee families and quickly exhausting their food supplies. Refugee families consist mainly of women and children, with adult males remaining in Pakistan to fight or protect family assets. UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) officials believe this indicates the families' intent to return to Pakistan. While Afghan officials categorize the families as 60 percent Pakistani and 40 percent Afghan, UNHCR believes that many of the "Pakistani" families may be long-term but undocumented Afghan residents in Pakistan. As provincial authorities prepare to register the families for assistance, UNHCR has suggested that nationality not be strictly investigated for fear the Pakistani authorities would prevent the Afghan families from returning to Kurram. ¶3. (SBU) President Karzai's order to assist the families comes as Pakistan is ramping up efforts to repatriate its Afghan refugee population. Karzai's widely reported offer of assistance (and Vice President Khalili's statement at a Kabul emergency preparedness meeting to let the refugees "stay as long as they like") are likely the Karzai government's attempt to turn the tables on the Pakistanis and be on the assisting side for once. If the fighting continues, however, or if, as we have heard, the Waziri Taliban engage on the side of the Sunnis and risk drawing in the Pakistani Army, the situation could require long-term assistance and fresh resources from the international community. WOOD