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UN: 100,000 Afghans Displaced By Conflict Since Start Of 2017


FILE: An internally displaced Afghan woman waits to receive assistance donated by a nongovernmental organization in Kabul.
FILE: An internally displaced Afghan woman waits to receive assistance donated by a nongovernmental organization in Kabul.

More than 100,000 Afghans have been forced to leave their homes because of war in 2017, the United Nations reported on May 29.

Data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed that 103,229 people have been displaced since January.

The figure marked a 36 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2016.

OCHA analysts cited a number of reasons for the decline.

Some of the fighting is continuing in the same areas as last year, meaning many have already fled.

Secondly, poverty has risen and some people no longer have the means to move large families to other places.

Insecurity has also spread in cities previously viewed as safe havens.

Taliban and Islamic State (IS) militants have carried out numerous attacks in Kabul, for example, and hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured since January.

The previously peaceful north now accounts for 42 percent of all displacement. The south, which is considered the heartland of the insurgency and saw some of the fiercest fighting in recent months, accounts for 31 per cent.

With reporting by dpa

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