Voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan is set resume on Monday, but a cash incentive for returnees announced by the UN has been reduced from $400 to $200, a UNHCR official said.
Pakistan hosts 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees, in addition to nearly a million unregistered Afghans, of which 600,000 live in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan.
Many Afghans still continued to register to leave despite incentive cuts, which the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, confirmed with Al Jazeera was due to the funding shortages.
"We could not sustain the amount of $400 for Afghans leaving Pakistan due to budget cuts, but the money they get will at least cover their transportation cost," Dunya Khan, spokesperson for the UNHCR in Islamabad, told
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