Minorities in Pakistan - Afghan

Afghan

Pakistan has absorbed millions of Afghan refugees since their nation was invaded by the then Soviet Union in 1979. Even prior to that, Afghans historically travelled to the region of Pakistan for business, trade and to avail the health and educational facilities of Pakistan. At current estimates, there are between 3 to 4 million Afghan refugee currently living in the country and have lived in the country for more than half of its existence since its creation in 1947. The ethnic make-up of the Afghans mirrors the breakdown of ethnicities found in Afghanistan itself. These include Afghan Pashtun, Persian speaking Tajiks, Nuristani, Hazara, Turkmen, Uzbeks, Chahar Aimak and others. The city of Karachi itself has an estimated population of 1 million Afghans making it the largest concentration of Afghans outside of Afghanistan itself. They are actively involved in trade, business and the literacy rate amongst the Afghan refugees of Pakistan are considered some of the highest and most promising when compared to other Afghans around the world. Figures are quite difficult to ascertain as many have been born in the country, and the Afghan refugees have some of the highest birth rates than any other ethnic group in the country and many have integrated as well as settled into Pakistan's multicultural population. Also, a large number of Afghan refugees have obtained Pakistani national identification cards (legally as well as illegally) and/or have married Pakistanis, further complicating the matter of accurate population figures. With the ongoing war on terror and recent antagonism between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the bulk of this political fallout of the crisis has fallen and been directed onto the Afghan refugee population where Pakistan has begun a process of repatriation back to Afghanistan in a policy similar to what Iran has done with its estimated 2 million Afghan refugees. There are several existing refugee camps dotted throughout the country, many well established into proper villages no different in appearance to regular Pakistani villages. There is growing resentment within Pakistan to the governments improper handling of the Afghan refugee population, and many believe that they should have been better integrated into Pakistani society and be given valid identification cards particularly to those who've been born in the country.