ISLAMABAD, July 16: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been told that some of the Afghan refugees stranded for months in harsh conditions at the Pakistan border are willing to move to new settlements inside southern Afghanistan.

According to the UNHCR press release issued here on Tuesday around 400 families from northern and southern Afghanistan, out of some 6,000 stuck in the waterless Chaman Waiting Area just inside Pakistan, expressed willingness to be relocated to new settlements planned for Kandahar province of Afghanistan.

It said that the UNHCR and Afghan authorities have seen the proposed settlements at Zarey Dasht as a potential solution for at least some of the stranded Afghan asylum seekers. A UNHCR head-count carried out this month to help aid workers plan relief services found that Chaman Waiting Area held 25,693 Afghan individuals in 6,003 families.