The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation of Afghanistan says in the last two days, 2,649 Afghan migrants have returned to the country voluntarily and forcibly from Pakistan and Iran.

According to officials, the migrants entered the country through Islam Qala border in Herat Province, Pul-e-Abrisham in Nimruz Province, Spin Boldak in Kandahar Province and Torkham crossing in Nangarhar Province.

Nangarhar Border Command officials said 39 families including 189 people came through Torkham crossing, 48 families, including 261 people, and an additional 33 prisoners who had been freed, came through Spin Boldak border in Kandahar province. They all arrived from Pakistan.

Those from Iran included 767 people through Islam Qala border in Herat province and 1,399 through the Pul-e-Abrisham crossing in Nimroz province.

According to the ministry, after registering for assistance at the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Organization, assistance was provided to each family according to the procedure.

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The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology recently announced that 10 million SIM cards for mobile phones have been registered in the country so far.

The ministry says that since the implementation of this procedure, about 60 percent of all SIM cards in use have now been registered.

Officials said about 40 percent still need to be logged but that this will be done over the next few months.

According to the ministry, there are 23 million active SIM cards in the country.

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The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry says due to the joint efforts of this ministry and the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), the process of distributing electronic ID cards has been launched at the Afghanistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi for Afghans in the UAE.

Mohammad Halim Rafi, the spokesperson for NSIA, said that this move is aimed at providing facilities for Afghans living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Meanwhile, the foreign ministry also emphasized that it is committed to providing more facilities for Afghans living in the UAE.

A number of economic experts see the beginning of this process as an effective step to provide more facilities to Afghans living in the UAE.

Some of them also believe that this process can lead to an increase in government revenue.

According to officials, birth and death certificates will also in future be distributed to Afghans based in the UAE.