[ Afghan Elections 2004-2005 ]

The Eurasia View in it article titled Afghan Refugees Reluctant To Leave Pakistan covers the topic of Afghan refugees. Eurasia View talk to Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan there primary concern seems to be the lack jobs and schools. Eurasia View also stated that �Since the 1979 Soviet invasion, most estimates placed the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan at 3 million. However, a Pakistani government census in 2005 suggested that the actual number of Afghans who fled their homeland was much higher. That survey counted 3 million Afghans in Pakistan in 2005, despite the repatriation of over 2 million Afghans over the previous three years. Another 582,000 refugees have repatriated since the census was completed. Overall, up to 5.5 million Afghans have returned to their homeland since 2001 from Pakistan and Iran - two countries hosting the largest refugee populations � making it the largest repatriation in UNHCR�s 55-year history.�
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An article titled Unifying a Broken National in the International Herald Tribune discusses the various cultural and ethnic backgrounds and influences that make up Afghanistan an their importance for the unity of Afghanistan. The article also states �The United States must, like Karzai, approach Afghanistan consistently as part of a wider region. There are identical tribal and political groups on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border, separated only by colonial line. We Americans emphasize democracy and human rights and pursue an aggressive counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan, but we support Pervez Musharraf, a military ruler, who takes a political, negotiated approach to the same groups in Pakistan. As a result of this schizophrenia, Taliban and Qaeda leaders base themselves in Pakistan and attack U.S. interests from there.�