Mohammad Anwar arrived in Pakistan as a child more than 35 years ago but is leaving as a father, his family among the thousands of uprooted Afghan refugees &quot;returning&quot; to a war-torn homeland many of them have never seen.&nbsp;Anwar, disbelieving and grief-stricken, has packed the bric-a-brac of a lifetime onto a truck wildly painted in baroque colours but says he is leaving his heart and soul in Peshawar, the city that sheltered him for decades.

&quot;We can&#39;t forget the time we passed here, we were treated like brothers,&quot; he tells AFP. &quot;Insha&#39;Allah, we will come here again, this time with passports.&quot;

Pakistan has provided safe haven for decades for millions like Anwar, who fled Afghanistan with his family when he was just seven&nbsp;years&nbsp;old, after the Soviet invasion of 1979.&nbsp;But as the fight against the Soviets morphed into civil war, Taliban rule, the US invasion and the grinding conflict in Afghanistan today, even Pakistan&#39;s famed hospitality has run out.

Pakistan hosts 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees, according to UNHCR, making it the third-largest refugee hosting nation in the world. A UNHCR official said the agency also estimates a further one million unregistered refugees are in the country.&nbsp;Since 2009, Islamabad has repeatedly pushed back a deadline for them to return, but fears are growing that the latest cutoff date in March 2017 will be final.&nbsp;Meanwhile, refugees are increasingly worried about their future in Pakistan amid a security crackdown against undocumented foreigners.&nbsp;

The anxiety, combined with a UN decision to double its cash grant for voluntary returnees from $200 to $400 per individual in June, has seen the flow of refugees over the border become a torrent.&nbsp;More than 200,000 have crossed this year, the vast majority since July,&nbsp;including nearly 98,000 in September alone, says UNHCR.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Tears, trucks at Torkham

Anwar fills out documents at a UNHCR centre outside Peshawar crammed with men in Afghan caps and turbans. Children lie on the floor as mothers in veils fan themselves in the steamy heat.&nbsp;They face an uncertain future in an Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by so many people fleeing fighting that officials warn of a humanitarian crisis.

But first they will pass the Torkham frontier, a mountainous outpost where,&nbsp;until this year&nbsp;border &quot;controls&quot; were more of a suggestion, and thousands crossed each day with impunity.

When AFP visited recently a gleaming new gate, constructed in June and reinforced by two kilometres of barbed wire,&nbsp;travellers funnelled&nbsp;through customs queues and scanning machines.

Pakistani pride in the new facilities contrasted with tearful Afghan refugees piling their trucks high, not just with household goods, but cattle, tree trunks and scraps that could help build even a mud hut once they reach Afghanistan.&nbsp;

&quot;We spent our best time here,&quot; 45-year-old Khair Muhammad, returning after 36 years with 21 members of his family, told AFP tearfully. His truck was loaded with beds, fans, wood, utensils, and a cow and her calf.&nbsp;&quot;We never thought, never even imagined that we would return in such circumstances,&quot; said 29-year-old Inamullah Khan.

&nbsp;

End of the road

With a resurgent Taliban in control of roughly one-third of Afghanistan&#39;s districts, many returning refugees will travel no further than Kabul.

Among them is Abdhur Rahman, who left for Pakistan 30 years ago, fleeing a province which is now buffeted by Taliban attacks.&nbsp;He returns aged 70, grey turbanned with his white beard curling over his chest, patriarch of a family of 25.&nbsp;

But the former peasant and anti-Soviet fighter from Paktia in the east will find little support in the overstretched capital. Kabul already has one of the highest population growth rates in the region: some 1,200 people every day, says European Union ambassador Franz-Michael Mellbin.

The UN put the number of displaced people in the city last month at 265,000, and in 2013 the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) documented 53 informal settlements, little more than timber clinging to the side of mountains with neither water nor electricity.

Abdhur Rahman speaks soberly of his last days in Pakistan.&nbsp;&quot;The police harassed us, they cut the water and electricity in the camp... it was better to leave,&quot; he says.

But another returnee, Sayed Karim, has lived for months in Kabul &quot;without water, no school, no doctor&quot;.&nbsp;Trapped in limbo with the gates at Torkham closed and his home province of Baghlan roiled by fighting, he remembers his days as a teacher in the refugee camp in Pakistan.&nbsp;

&quot;In Pakistan we had good work. A good life,&quot; he says.&nbsp;

(AFP)

Pakistan was a safe haven for millions of Afghans who fled after the 1979 Soviet invasion. Now they're finding that returning home is hard

Mohammad Anwar arrived in Pakistan as a child more than 35 years ago but is leaving as a father, his family among the thousands of uprooted Afghan refugees "returning" to a war-torn homeland many of them have never seen. Anwar, disbelieving and grief-stricken, has packed the bric-a-brac of a lifetime onto a truck wildly painted in baroque colours but says he is leaving his heart and soul in Peshawar, the city that sheltered him for decades. "We can't forget the time we passed here, we were treated like brothers," he tells AFP. "Insha'Allah, we will come here again, this time with passports." Pakistan has provided safe haven for decades for millions like Anwar, who fled Afghanistan with his family when he was just seven years old, after the Soviet invasion of 1979. But as the fight against the Soviets morphed into civil war, Taliban rule, the US invasion and the grinding conflict in Afghanistan today, even Pakistan's famed hospitality has run out. Pakistan hosts 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees, according to UNHCR, making it the third-largest refugee hosting nation in the world. A UNHCR official said the agency also estimates a further one million unregistered refugees are in the country. Since 2009, Islamabad has repeatedly pushed back a deadline for them to return, but fears are growing that the latest cutoff date in March 2017 will be final. Meanwhile, refugees are increasingly worried about their future in Pakistan amid a security crackdown against undocumented foreigners. The anxiety, combined with a UN decision to double its cash grant for voluntary returnees from $200 to $400 per individual in June, has seen the flow of refugees over the border become a torrent. More than 200,000 have crossed this year, the vast majority since July, including nearly 98,000 in September alone, says UNHCR. Tears, trucks at Torkham Anwar fills out documents at a UNHCR centre outside Peshawar crammed with men in Afghan caps and turbans. Children lie on the floor as mothers in veils fan themselves in the steamy heat. They face an uncertain future in an Afghanistan still at war and already overwhelmed by so many people fleeing fighting that officials warn of a humanitarian crisis. But first they will pass the Torkham frontier, a mountainous outpost where, until this year border "controls" were more of a suggestion, and thousands crossed each day with impunity. When AFP visited recently a gleaming new gate, constructed in June and reinforced by two kilometres of barbed wire, travellers funnelled through customs queues and scanning machines. Pakistani pride in the new facilities contrasted with tearful Afghan refugees piling their trucks high, not just with household goods, but cattle, tree trunks and scraps that could help build even a mud hut once they reach Afghanistan. "We spent our best time here," 45-year-old Khair Muhammad, returning after 36 years with 21 members of his family, told AFP tearfully. His truck was loaded with beds, fans, wood, utensils, and a cow and her calf. "We never thought, never even imagined that we would return in such circumstances," said 29-year-old Inamullah Khan. End of the road With a resurgent Taliban in control of roughly one-third of Afghanistan's districts, many returning refugees will travel no further than Kabul. Among them is Abdhur Rahman, who left for Pakistan 30 years ago, fleeing a province which is now buffeted by Taliban attacks. He returns aged 70, grey turbanned with his white beard curling over his chest, patriarch of a family of 25. But the former peasant and anti-Soviet fighter from Paktia in the east will find little support in the overstretched capital. Kabul already has one of the highest population growth rates in the region: some 1,200 people every day, says European Union ambassador Franz-Michael Mellbin. The UN put the number of displaced people in the city last month at 265,000, and in 2013 the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) documented 53 informal settlements, little more than timber clinging to the side of mountains with neither water nor electricity. Abdhur Rahman speaks soberly of his last days in Pakistan. "The police harassed us, they cut the water and electricity in the camp... it was better to leave," he says. But another returnee, Sayed Karim, has lived for months in Kabul "without water, no school, no doctor". Trapped in limbo with the gates at Torkham closed and his home province of Baghlan roiled by fighting, he remembers his days as a teacher in the refugee camp in Pakistan. "In Pakistan we had good work. A good life," he says. (AFP)

Afghan refugees return to uncertain future in alien homeland

Husseini Jihadists and their rebel allies pressed an offensive yesterday with a massive attack aimed at seizing a military academy south of Aleppo, and breaking a three-week-old siege of insurgent neighbourhoods. 
 
Their assault focusing on the artillery and armaments schools of the academy has sparked contradictory reports about the situation on the ground. 
 
&quot;The rebels have seized parts of these schools, but the army has begun a counter-offensive backed by air cover to chase them out,&quot; said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman. &quot;If the rebels can take control of these schools, they will cut the supply route into regime-held districts of western Aleppo and they must seize the adjoining area of Ramussa to lift the siege on the rebel districts,&quot; he said. 
 
&quot;This is a battle of life and death for the regime and for Russia,&quot; its key ally, Abdel Rahman added. 
 
State television in Syria said government forces had repulsed the assault, killing &quot;hundreds&quot; of attackers. Once Syria&#39;s economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the war that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests 
 
The government siege of opposition-held districts began on July 17 and has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis. The Observatory said at least 13 people, including nine children, were killed in air strikes on the rebel-held east of the city on yesterday. The Britain-based group said it was unclear if the raids on the Marjeh district were carried out by Syrian or Russian aircraft. 
 
Moscow, meanwhile, hit back at US criticism over Syria, accusing Washington of lacking trust in Russia and not behaving as a true partner. Russia and the United States support opposing sides in Syria&#39;s civil war, which has left 280,000 people dead and forced half the population to flee their homes. 
 
&#39;Wholly logical&#39; policy 
 
But the two world powers have agreed &quot;concrete steps&quot; to revive a tattered ceasefire and tackle jihadist groups in Syria, although details have not been made public. 
 
On Thursday, US President Barack Obama said Russia risked casting itself as an &quot;irresponsible actor&quot; on the world stage particularly due to its actions in Aleppo in recent weeks. 
 
&quot;The United States sometimes don&#39;t behave as partners when dealing with us on Syrian issues and are not always ready to negotiate on equal grounds,&quot; deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS news agency. He said he thought Moscow&#39;s policy on Syria was &quot;wholly logical&quot; and set goals that are mostly &quot;shared by most members of the international community&quot;. 
 
In an audio message released yesterday, Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, the head of Al-Qaeda&#39;s former affiliate in Syria, pledged that the rebel offensive which started on Sunday would soon succeed. God had granted fighters &quot;a glorious victory in the battle to break the siege of Aleppo&quot;, he said. 
 
&quot;This battle, the outcome of which will go beyond simply opening the road for the besieged, will change the balance of the conflict setting the scene for a new stage of the battle.&quot; 
 
After some initial rebel advances, government forces backed by Iranian and Hezbollah fighters, as well as Russian air-strikes, have pushed back opposition fighters who include jihadists from Jolani&#39;s faction, now known as the Fateh al-Sham Front. 
 
Ravaged by war 
 
According to the Observatory, at least 115 civilians, including 35 children, have been killed in the city since the rebel assault began on Sunday. The deaths include 65 people, among them 22 children, killed in rebel fire on government neighbourhoods, the Observatory said. 
 
Another 42 people, including 11 children, have been killed in strikes on eastern Aleppo, it said. It reported five more deaths in rebel fire on the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud district of the city. 
 
Elsewhere in Aleppo province, the monitor said an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters was advancing inside the Islamic State group bastion of Manbij. Abdul Rahman said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) now held 70 per cent of the town. 
 
&quot;The Islamic State has entered its final phase in the town of Manbij,&quot; he told AFP, adding however that IS was using a number of civilians there as human shields. &quot;The progress the SDF has made in the last week is more than it was able to achieve in previous weeks put together,&quot; Abdul Rahman said. 
 
The SDF began its assault on Manbij in late May and entered the town proper on June 23, with support from the US-led coalition against IS. Manbij sits on the route between the Turkish border and the eastern city of Raqa, the jihadists&#39; de facto capital in Syria. 
 
(AFP)

But government forces have launched a counter-attack on the assault, giving rise to contradictory reports on the ground

Husseini Jihadists and their rebel allies pressed an offensive yesterday with a massive attack aimed at seizing a military academy south of Aleppo, and breaking a three-week-old siege of insurgent neighbourhoods. Their assault focusing on the artillery and armaments schools of the academy has sparked contradictory reports about the situation on the ground. "The rebels have seized parts of these schools, but the army has begun a counter-offensive backed by air cover to chase them out," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman. "If the rebels can take control of these schools, they will cut the supply route into regime-held districts of western Aleppo and they must seize the adjoining area of Ramussa to lift the siege on the rebel districts," he said. "This is a battle of life and death for the regime and for Russia," its key ally, Abdel Rahman added. State television in Syria said government forces had repulsed the assault, killing "hundreds" of attackers. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the war that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests The government siege of opposition-held districts began on July 17 and has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis. The Observatory said at least 13 people, including nine children, were killed in air strikes on the rebel-held east of the city on yesterday. The Britain-based group said it was unclear if the raids on the Marjeh district were carried out by Syrian or Russian aircraft. Moscow, meanwhile, hit back at US criticism over Syria, accusing Washington of lacking trust in Russia and not behaving as a true partner. Russia and the United States support opposing sides in Syria's civil war, which has left 280,000 people dead and forced half the population to flee their homes. 'Wholly logical' policy But the two world powers have agreed "concrete steps" to revive a tattered ceasefire and tackle jihadist groups in Syria, although details have not been made public. On Thursday, US President Barack Obama said Russia risked casting itself as an "irresponsible actor" on the world stage particularly due to its actions in Aleppo in recent weeks. "The United States sometimes don't behave as partners when dealing with us on Syrian issues and are not always ready to negotiate on equal grounds," deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS news agency. He said he thought Moscow's policy on Syria was "wholly logical" and set goals that are mostly "shared by most members of the international community". In an audio message released yesterday, Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, the head of Al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria, pledged that the rebel offensive which started on Sunday would soon succeed. God had granted fighters "a glorious victory in the battle to break the siege of Aleppo", he said. "This battle, the outcome of which will go beyond simply opening the road for the besieged, will change the balance of the conflict setting the scene for a new stage of the battle." After some initial rebel advances, government forces backed by Iranian and Hezbollah fighters, as well as Russian air-strikes, have pushed back opposition fighters who include jihadists from Jolani's faction, now known as the Fateh al-Sham Front. Ravaged by war According to the Observatory, at least 115 civilians, including 35 children, have been killed in the city since the rebel assault began on Sunday. The deaths include 65 people, among them 22 children, killed in rebel fire on government neighbourhoods, the Observatory said. Another 42 people, including 11 children, have been killed in strikes on eastern Aleppo, it said. It reported five more deaths in rebel fire on the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud district of the city. Elsewhere in Aleppo province, the monitor said an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters was advancing inside the Islamic State group bastion of Manbij. Abdul Rahman said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) now held 70 per cent of the town. "The Islamic State has entered its final phase in the town of Manbij," he told AFP, adding however that IS was using a number of civilians there as human shields. "The progress the SDF has made in the last week is more than it was able to achieve in previous weeks put together," Abdul Rahman said. The SDF began its assault on Manbij in late May and entered the town proper on June 23, with support from the US-led coalition against IS. Manbij sits on the route between the Turkish border and the eastern city of Raqa, the jihadists' de facto capital in Syria. (AFP)

Syria jihadists, rebels attack to break Aleppo siege

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