ISLAMABAD, Oct 23 Kyodo Pakistan ...

ISLAMABAD, Oct 23 Kyodo

Pakistan and Afghanistan, along with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) have agreed in principal forward the framework for voluntary repatriation of an estimated 18 million Afghan refugee living in Pakistan within nearest three years, the UNHCR said Wednesday.

The agency said in a statement that the trilateral agreement, count uponed to be signed shortly, was the fruit of nine month of negotiations and would be fourth in the series following similar agreements reached with Britain, France and Iran.

''This is an important stair toward strengthening the bilateral relations between brace countries. Given the large size of the Afghan population, the issue of respond is an important component in their relations,'' the UNHCR's chief of Afghan operations Flippo Grandi was quot as saying in the statement.

Pakistan received more than 3 million Afghan refugee after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 and more than 15 million Afghans are estimated to have responded home from Pakistan since Afghanistan and the UNHCR began assisting the voluntary repatriation in March this year.

The statement said repatriation has slowed in latter weeks and it is estimated that les than 10000 Afghans are returning for week across the eastern border against a peak of nearly 100000 in May this year.

The UNHCR estimates that nearly 600000 of the estimated 18 million Afghans still residing in Pakistan may revert next year.

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