VOA慢速英语2015 巴基斯坦与阿富汗合作帮助难民安全返回阿富汗

AS IT IS 2015-03-17 Pakistan, Afghanistan Work to Return Refugees 巴基斯坦与阿富汗合作帮助难民安全返回阿富汗

Pakistan and Afghanistan have announced plans to work together over the next four months. The two sides will attempt to document about one million Afghans thought to be living illegally in Pakistan.

The documentation effort will help officials decide when all Afghan refugees in Pakistan can be expected to safely return to Afghanistan.

The United Nations estimates there are 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees. About one million of them are said to be undocumented. Pakistani officials have started blaming the refugees for a rise in criminal and militant¹ activity in parts of the country.

The Pakistani government’s anti-terrorism operation included sending back both official and unofficial Afghan refugees to Afghanistan. Over the past three months, police have raided mostly Afghan neighborhoods and refugee camps. Those raids led to more than 50,000 Afghans returning to their country. Most of them are said to be undocumented Afghans whom Pakistani officials consider a security threat.

Pakistan wants all registered Afghan refugees to leave by the end of 2015. But the increase in returning Afghans has already worried the government in Afghanistan. The government is facing severe budget and security problems, partly because of less international aid.

However, recent high-level discussions in Islamabad may have eased tensions between the two countries.

Imran Zeb Khan is the Chief Commissioner² of Afghan Refugees. He told VOA his group will lead the process of documenting more than one million Afghans in Pakistan. He says a committee of Afghan and Pakistani experts will oversee³ the process.  

“The entire process of documentation will take four months, and within these four months when we document these one million (Afghans), there will be a window of opportunity for Afghans. Either they avail the reintegration grant being provided by the government of Afghanistan, inside Afghanistan and they return, or if they want to live in Pakistan they have to regulate that stay by having passports and travel documents and relevant visas to be issued to them.”

Mr. Khan says the effort will begin with an information campaign, urging Afghans to register themselves. He adds that the registration⁴ of these Afghans does not mean they will be considered refugees in Pakistan.

He also spoke⁵ about a police operation in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The campaign has been directed at individuals who are unable to give their identities during search operations. But Mr. Khan dismisses suggestions the police action is directed at Afghans.

“Within that crackdown, there was a spontaneous return of unregistered Afghans back to their homeland. But let me make it very clear -- this security scan was carried out, is being carried out and will be carried out from time to time to see if there are people without documents and if they are living in suspicion conditions, security and law enforcing agencies will work on that.”

This month, the United Nations, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to launch efforts to ask global donors⁶ for money to help conditions inside Afghanistan. The Afghan government will lead the efforts. The government hopes to provide housing and jobs to returning refugees.

UN officials believe political security in Afghanistan and the country’s improved relations with Pakistan will help in efforts to resolve the refugee issue. However, a U.N. representative in Pakistan said there is still a need for the international community’s involvement. In the words of Indrika Ratwatte, there is a “window of opportunity that should not be lost.”

Pakistani, Afghan and U.N. officials are set to meet in Kabul in August to re-examine the refugee situation.

Pakistan has said it will honor its agreement to send the refugees back to Afghanistan voluntarily. But Pakistan has not said whether it will extend the December 2015 time limit for registered Afghans to return to their home country.

Words in This Story

document – v. to create an official record of (something)

spontaneous – adj. done or said in a natural and often sudden way and without a lot of thought or planning

raid – v. to make a sudden attack

oversee – v. to supervise; to direct (an activity or a group of workers)

voluntarily – adv. done or given because you want to and not because you are forced to

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

2 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

3 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

4 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》