Afghan Refugees

More than two decades of civil war and the destruction of towns and villages have caused mass movements of the people of Afghanistan in two major directions -- emigration, mainly to Pakistan and Iran, or escape to the relative safety of the capital city, Kabul. The civil war, compounded by the often severe living conditions in the refugee camps, has taken the lives of almost one million people including women, children and the elderly.
Woman and child at the Roghani Refugee Camp in Chaman, a Pakistani border town. Children and young people make up a large percentage of the population at Roghani Refugee Camp. [December 2001]