UNDP: Over 6.5m people in Afghanistan internally displaced

KABUL (TOLOnews): The UN Development Program said in its recent report that Afghanistan currently has a “staggering 6.55 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), making it the country with the second highest tally worldwide after Syria.” Based on the report, over 4.39 million people are internally displaced as a result of conflict and violence as of 31 December 2022, while a further 2.16 million people are displaced due to disasters in the country. The report issues a warning on the potential rise of global displacement over the next 30 years. Malik Khan, who moved to Kabul from Laghman province a few years ago due to conflict and instability, told a TOLOnews reporter: “Our main issue is that there is no assistance for internally displaced people, and in the last two years, the only assistance we have received has been 50 kg of oil and 5 kg of peas.” “We ask the Islamic Emirate to give us shelter and help us. We accept it if it gives us the same place and we don’t have a clinic,” said Maryam, another displaced person. Some other displaced people asked the Islamic Emirate and aid organizations to help them. “We came here to do something and provide shelter to our children. We have a water problem, we have an electricity problem, and our children do not attend school. We moved here from Mazar, where there was no job,” said Hayatullah, displaced from Balkh province. Poverty is a factor that has caused the people of the nation to leave their homes in addition to insecurity and conflict. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) earlier reported a rise in the number of internally displaced people in Afghanistan. This organization has estimated the nation’s internal displacement population at about six million people.