Thousands of Afghan refugees have returned home voluntarily with the help of a U-N repatriation program.
The United Nations Refugee Agency in Geneva says that more than 22-thousand Afghan refugees have returned home from camps in Pakistan since the repatriation program began on March first.
The repatriation program requires Afghan refugees to sign up at a registration center where they are given a transportation allowance and food vouchers. Refugees can redeem the food vouchers and receive resettlement kits at distribution centers in their home regions in Afghanistan.
The U-N agency has five distribution centers in place in Afghanistan but they expect to bring the total to 32 across the country.
U-N officials say the bulk of Afghan refugees are living in Pakistan and Iran. The agency says it plans to begin a similar repatriation program for refugees in Iran beginning April first.