UNHCR not seeing large influx of Afghans crossing into Pakistan, Iran

Afghanistan could face a major crisis without trade and support flows, and the international community should not turn a blind eye to the situation, a UN official stressed on Friday, reported Xinhua.

Babar Baloch, speaking from Pakistan for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), told a UN press briefing that the UNHCR was not seeing a large influx of refugees trying to cross Afghanistan's borders to Pakistan and Iran, and the reasons behind this were being analyzed.

In fact, a displacement crisis is taking place inside Afghanistan, the UN official said. However, it is difficult to gather information on the uncertain situation inside Afghanistan, as well as at the borders with neighboring countries.

Traditionally, there has always been a lot of movement of persons and commercial flows between Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, Baloch explained. Currently, Afghans are still able to come through, but ID documents and visas must be shown.

According to the latest UN figures, almost half of Afghanistan's population, or 18 million people, need humanitarian assistance in order to survive. One in three Afghans does not know where their next meal will come from, while more than half of all children under five are expected to become acutely malnourished in the next year.