Seven months after fleeing Pakistan out of fear of deportation, Jan Mohammed marked the Eid-ul-Azha holiday on Monday while living in a tent in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province near the border and struggling to feed his family.
“We are spending Eid as if we were in prison,” said the 30-year-old father of six. AFP.
“We have no money at all. I thank God that I am alive but sometimes I regret it. There is nothing we can do. This year, and this Eid, we are totally bankrupt.” He and his family crossed the border from Pakistan late last year, shortly after Islamabad set a deadline for Afghans who have no legal right to stay in Afghanistan to leave the country.
In the months leading up to the Nov. 1, 2023 deadline, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have rushed to pack their bags to start new lives in a homeland many of them have never seen.
But months later, many people are still unable to find their place.
Mohammed and his family lived in a tent city in Moye Mubarak district of Nangarhar province along with other recently returned Afghan families.
He used to work as a trainer at a Pakistani sports club but is now out of work and cannot provide enough food for his family or take part in Eid-ul-Azha traditions such as buying new clothes, a ceremonial sheep or gathering with relatives and friends.
“My children have nothing to eat, no clothes or shoes to wear, but children in nearby villages have good clothes and shoes. My children want the same. It is very difficult but we are powerless,” Mohammed said.
“My heart is breaking. I am sitting in the corner of my house and crying.” In a nearby tent, San Bibi is also struggling to survive. While other families are buying new clothes for Eid, she and her six children can barely wash them and are begging for hand-me-downs to wear.
“We beg for clothes [the] “He’s gone,” said the 60-year-old widow, the family’s sole breadwinner. AFP.
“We have been in a bad situation for the last two Eids,” she said, referring to Eid al-Fitr, which fell at the end of the holy month of Ramadan in April this year.
There is no “bread to eat”
The influx of returnees into Afghanistan from both Pakistan and Iran comes as the war-torn country struggles with economic, climate and humanitarian crises.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last year that Afghans make up the world’s third-largest displaced group, with around eight million Afghans living in 103 countries as of 2023.
The Taliban government, which took power about three years ago, provided some assistance to returnees but struggled to cope with the sudden increase in returnees.
“We want the government to help us by providing shelter,” said Sana Gul, who has been living in a tent with her husband and two daughters since emigrated from Pakistan.
In the days leading up to Eid, markets were bustling with shoppers buying sweets and food for the holiday, and many families shared meat with poorer relatives during the holiday.
But many of the returnees, who have spent years, if not lives, overseas to escape Afghanistan’s ongoing conflict, have few networks to support them.
“We don’t even have bread to eat,” said Gul’s husband, Safar.
