2,400 Afghan refugees return home from Iran

Kabul, May 23

Nearly 2,400 Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland from Iran, Afghanistan's Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation Affairs said in a statement.

"A total of 2,348 Afghan refugees returned to their homeland Afghanistan on Sunday after years of living as refugees in Iran and the process of returning the refugees to their country continues," the statement added on Monday.

Weeks ago, the state-run Bakhtar news agency reported the return of more than 54,000 Afghan refugees from Iran over the past couple of months.

More than 2.5 million registered Afghan refugees reportedly have been living in Iran and about the same number are living in Pakistan, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Afghan caretaker government has called on Afghan refugees living abroad to return home and contribute to reconstruction of their war-ravaged country.