800 Afghan refugees in Iran get passports

KABUL): Hundreds of Afghan refugees living in Iran have been issued passports to help them find work visas in the neighbouring country, an official said on Monday.

Of the 1,400,000 Afghan refugees in Iran, 800 have received passports, with host government issuing them work permits, Minister of Refugee Affairs Jamahir Anwari told reporters in Kabul.

At a recent meeting in Tehran, Iranian Interior Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najar had agreed to direct the police to avoid torturing Afghan refugees, Anwari said on his return from the neighbouring country

Iran, Afghanistan and the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees have agreed that 100,000 refugees will return to their homeland this year.

But the Iranian interior minister explained they would send a delegation to to Afghanistan to assess the economic and security situation before the refugees’ repatriation.

For its part, the UNHCR promised that the refugees returning voluntary to their country would be given cash and food support, he concluded.

ml/mud

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