The majority of Afghans have benefited from a repatriation program, which began in March, promoted by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Some 200,000 Afghans have returned to the country on their own initiative. The refugees come from Pakistan (about 920,000), especially the border city of Peshawar, and from Iran (about 75,000), and other countries of Central Asia.
According to the UNHCR, there were some 4 million Afghan refugees in other countries at the start of 2002, and about 1.3 million displaced people within Afghanistan.
John Paul II has many numerous public appeals to the international community, and Catholics in particular, to assist these people.
