Kabul begins the repatriation of ISIS families to Pakistan

In the first phase at least 50 women and 76 children will be returned to relatives. In November 2019, over 1,300 Islamic militants surrendered to the Afghan military forces, tired of fighting. Tribal chief: "The Afghan government, the Afghan people and the ulema send women back with honor."

Kabul (AsiaNews) - Afghan authorities have started the repatriation of families of fighters from the Islamic State who surrendered to the government of Kabul at the end of 2019. In the first phase, reports the BBC, 50 women and 76 children will be escorted out of the territory , all natives of Pakistan. The identification operations for the "return to relatives" began yesterday in Jalalabad, in the military base of the province of Nangarhar.

The surrender of the militants of the Islamic Caliphate - Daesh in Arabic terminology - took place in November last year. On that occasion, President Ashraf Ghani said that more than 1,300 fundamentalists have abandoned their weapons and turned themselves over to the Afghan military forces, tired of fighting.

They are said to be former members of the Islamic group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Ttp), who arrived in the areas of Nangarhar to join ISIS after the start of the "Zarb-e-Azb" operation adopted by Islamabad against various militant groups, including which the Ttp. After establishing militant-controlled areas, they also moved families.

According to the Kabul authorities, among the family members of those who surrendered there are women and children from the Tirah Valley and from the Orakzai and Bajaur agencies (in the Tribal Areas of Federal Administration) in Pakistan. Their return was established during some meetings with the tribal leaders. After one of these assemblies of elders, called "jirga", the transfer of wives and children of the surrendered to their relatives was established, provided that they were the ones who went to get them.

Malik Usman, tribal chief of Jalalabad, declares: “This is the tradition of the Afghans. These people came to Afghanistan for a misunderstanding. The Afghan government, the Afghan people and the ulema send women back with honor."

Waiting for some of them yesterday was Mr. Jan Mohammad from the Khyber Valley. He waited a few days while officials checked the documents of three women and four children who moved to Afghanistan five years ago with his two children.

• afghanistan
• pakistan
• repatriation
• families
• isis
• islamic state
• fighters
• militants
• surrender