VZCZCXRO7660
OO RUEHBW RUEHIK RUEHPW RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #1028/01 1160513
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 250513Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3698
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001028 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/FO, 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: PHUM PREF PGOV PREL PK AF
SUBJECT:  Jalozai Refugees Returning . . . For Now 
 
Ref:  Islamabad 1602 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  1,135 families (6,474 individuals) have returned 
to Afghanistan from the Jalozai refugee camp in Pakistan since March 
1, 2008.  Due to adverse conditions in Afghanistan, some returnees 
may try to go back to Pakistan very soon. 
 
¶2.  (U) Almost two-thirds of Jalozai residents went to Nangarhar 
(672 families, 3,865 individuals); one-third to Kabul (388 families, 
2,220 individuals); and a small amount to Gardez, Khost (75 
families, 389 individuals).  The focus on Nangarhar mirrors total 
returns from Pakistan so far this year: of the 4,904 families 
(29,431 individuals) who returned, 2,774 families (16,989 
individuals) went to Nangarhar.  The United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects the heavy Nangarhar 
returns to continue since many Jalozai families were originally from 
Nangarhar and others may wish to stay close to Pakistan in case 
their menfolk return to Pakistan for work.  This is a departure from 
the 2002-2007 trend, when the majority of returnees went to Kabul. 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Post Refugee Coordinator and Specialist met Jalozai 
returnees on April 22 at the Kabul Encashment Center, where refugees 
receive reintegration assistance funds and other services.  Former 
camp residents understood that they had remained in the camp after 
the (multiple) camp closure deadlines passed but said elders had 
been trying to negotiate an extension (REFTEL).  They described no 
violence against or by refugees, but registered with us their 
resentment over the camp's closure.  UNHCR Kabul grumbled informally 
that Pakistan's actions amounted to forced repatriation but they are 
not protesting the closure since it was agreed upon last year in the 
Afghan/Pak/UNHCR Tripartite Agreement and with camp elders. 
 
No Money, Nowhere To Go, Nothing To Do 
-------------------------------------- 
¶4.  (U) Options for newly returned refugees are severely limited. 
Most, if not all, have no skills and are landless, very poor, and 
have more young children and larger families than past returnees. 
For the moment, most will stay with relatives.  Most are returning 
to a country that they have not seen for 20 years, if ever. 
Returnees we spoke to in Kabul were mostly from Parwan, Kunduz, and 
other places in the central and northern provinces.  Some would try 
to set up small retail shops similar to those they had in Jalozai 
and, if they failed, would only then return to their province of 
origin.  Many refugees told us they lost all their business capital 
in Pakistan when the authorities refused to give them time to 
retrieve goods before bulldozing their shops. 
 
That Was Quick:  Refugees Already Recycling 
Back To Pakistan 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) The media reported on April 24 that five to ten recently 
repatriated families a day are already returning to Pakistan from 
Kandahar and Zabul due to Afghanistan's rising food prices and lack 
of employment.  (Post is trying to confirm.)  When these families 
officially repatriated, however, their Pakistani Proof of 
Registration (POR) cards were invalidated.  The POR cards function 
as de facto refugee identity cards and without them, these recycled 
refugees are now illegal, undocumented migrants, subject to 
deportation at any moment.  Several men we met at the Encashment 
Center had already repatriated to Afghanistan before but 
subsequently returned to Pakistan in search of work. 
 
Impact on Refugees of Rising Food Prices 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Refugees are returning at a particularly difficult moment. 
Food prices have skyrocketed:  the price of a 48 kilo bag of flour 
is 3500 Afghanis ($70) but the average government employee earns 
2500 Afghanis a month ($50).  Riot police had to disburse 1,000 
protesters in Nangarhar on April 22 when they attacked flour trucks 
to protest the rising prices and Pakistan's flour export ban.  The 
latter impacted many returning refugees when Pakistani border 
guards, citing the ban, seized their flour supplies even though 
UNHCR had negotiated an export allowance of two bags per family. 
The Afghan government announced on April 23 that it had allocated 
$50 million to purchase additional food staples but when, how, and 
to whom the food will be distributed remains to be seen. 
 
KABUL 00001028  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
Scene Calm At Kabul Encashment Center 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Refugees processed calmly through the Encashment Center, 
usually the first stop for refugees returning to the Kabul area. 
The families' rented Pakistani "jingle" trucks waited nearby, 
crammed with lumber, scrap metal, beds, wheelbarrows, and anything 
else that could be strapped on.  Within 20-25 minutes, refugees went 
through a mine awareness briefing, medical check-up, and school 
registration.  At the end, heads of household collected $100 per 
family member, money meant to be a small business capital fund but 
often spent on meeting immediate needs of food, shelter, and 
transportation.  UNHCR runs the six encashment centers in Nangarhar, 
Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Gardez, and Mazar-e-Sharif.  At the height 
of the summer repatriation season, some centers disburse up to 
$400,000 a day.  While the journey from Pakistan is relatively 
short, it can be perilous.  Medical clinics at each enter treat 
injuries incurred when the top-heavy trucks overturn on the steep 
roads or when women fall trying to climb to their seats at the top 
of the truck in a burqa. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) While Jalozai's 80,000 residents have the option of 
relocating to other camps in Pakistan, UNHCR Kabul expects the 
majority to repatriate, along with other returnees from Pakistan and 
Iran.  As Afghanistan's already minimal absorption capacity 
continues to be strained, we expect to see more recycling as 
refugees become frustrated with rising food prices and lack of 
employment in Afghanistan. 
 
WOOD