A million Afghan refugees could return home from Iran and Pakistan by the end of next year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Wednesday. "We expect half a million to come back this year and we probably can continue that next year," Ruud Lubbers told a news conference, saying up to 300,000 people could return from each country this year and the same number in 2006. "It's very ambitious but we don't exclude it." Lubbers was speaking after a conference bringing together UNHCR, the European Commission and several donor countries with the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Afghans fled abroad in their millions following the 1979 Soviet invasion, the chaos that followed the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, and during the rule of the radical Taliban government from 1996-2001. Most ended up in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. About 3.5 million have returned since the overthrow of the Taliban by the United States following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, blamed on al Qaeda operating from Afghanistan under Taliban protection. Lubbers said up to 3 million Afghan refugees remained abroad, made up of roughly a million in Iran, the same number in refugee camps in Pakistan, and another million in Pakistan but not in camps. --SP 2256 Local Time 1956 GMT
