ISLAMABAD, 6 May (UNHCR) - The number of Afghans helped to return to Afghanistan since the UN Refugee Agency began its voluntary repatriation programme in cooperation with the government of Pakistan two years ago passed the two million mark on Thursday.

The flow of returnees - the largest ongoing repatriation programme in decades for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees - is running well ahead of expectations this year, with more than 90,000 Afghans returning since the 2004 programme began on 3 March.

Under the repatriation programme, UNHCR gives refugees wishing to return to Afghanistan a grant to cover costs of transportation - ranging from $3 to $30 per person - plus $8 each in place of food aid and other items such as buckets that were provided to returnees in the previous years of the assistance.

The repatriation programme was launched in March 2002 following the removal of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, with more than 1.5 million Afghans flooding back in the first season. Last year nearly 350,000 more Afghans returned from Pakistan under the programme.

With the programme due to conclude when the Tripartite Agreement on repatriation between UNHCR and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan expires in March 2006, many Afghans have decided improving conditions in many parts of their homeland make repatriation feasible. While some parts of Afghanistan are still facing security problems, others are reporting improved security and expanding economic opportunities.

"I don't have a job in Pakistan. I hope I will get a good job in my country and if not then I will start a business," said Zaryial Khan, a 27-year-old refugee taking his family to Kabul. "I am satisfied with the conditions in my country. The majority are living in Afghanistan in the same condition -- if they can live there, why don't I live in my own country."

UNHCR repatriation centres had assisted 1,998,466 Afghans to return from Pakistan by the close of operations on Wednesday. With daily returns in excess of 2,000 individuals, one of the refugees assisted on Thursday was the two millionth to leave for Afghanistan under the programme. The shrinking Afghan population has allowed UNHCR to begin consolidating refugee camps.

"This repatriation is the goal we have dreamt of all these years," said Guenet Guebre-Christos, Representative of UNHCR in Pakistan. "Of all solutions for refugees, returning to their homeland is the most desirable."

UNHCR operates repatriation centres in Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and Alizai in Kurram Agency. Officials of UNHCR, the Government of Pakistan and the Interim Government of Afghanistan participated in ceremonies to mark the occasion.

'This is a happy occasion for all of us that you (Afghan refugees) are going back voluntarily to your country," said Abdul Rauf Khan, Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department in the Government of the Province of Balochistan. "While you were here in Pakistan, we tried our best to look after you as much as our resources could permit."

"It is also a positive sign that the economic activity is being generated in Afghanistan, attracting Afghans back home. The Government of Pakistan and Balochistan appreciates and extends heartfelt thanks to UNHCR and NGOs operating with UNHCR for the professional assistance being provided to the repatriating Afghan refugees and reaching the two million mark in two years," he said.

All returnees over the age of six years must go through iris recognition checks - a computerized system that ensures no one can receive assistance twice - before they are eligible to receive the aid package. The assistance is handed over at UNHCR encashment centres inside Afghanistan.

Delays in travel, registering for the assistance in Afghanistan and processing of data means the figures for arrivals inside Afghanistan always lag the numbers who depart from the repatriation centres in Pakistan. Aside from a few refugees returning via Kurram Agency, refugees leave Pakistan via Torkham border crossing in the Khyber Pass and the Chaman border crossing in Balochistan province.

In addition to the programme in Pakistan, UNHCR is assisting the return of Afghans from Iran where large numbers also received protection over the past quarter century. More than 430,000 refugees have left Iran with UNHCR help since the programme began in Iran, while another 270,000 have returned to Afghanistan on their own.