HANGU, Dec 19: Most of the Afghans living in camps here are reluctant to return to their country because of the activities of American forces there, Ustad Abdur Rehman Niazi, a leader of the refugees in the district, said on Thursday.

The Afghans living in miserable conditions in the camps despised the US troops and their operations in their country and this was the main cause of their unwillingness to go back, Niazi told Dawn. There are 13 refugees camps in the district.

He said the feeling of the refugees had come forward during a survey conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for their repatriation to Afghanistan.

Ustad Rehman said that another reason for the Afghans’ hatred for the US troops and their unwillingness to return was the frequent search operations carried out by the coalition forces in the Paktia, Paktika and Gardez provinces along the border with the tribal agencies.

During the operations in eastern Afghanistan, the troops called out all the men, subjected them and the women to humiliation and violated the sanctity of their houses, he said.

The intimidation and security situation had forced many more Afghans, besides those who had recently been repatriated, to leave their country, he said.

He alleged that the coalition and Afghan government troops, which mostly comprised the Northern Alliance forces, also harassed the well to do people on the pretext that they had raised the money through drug trade.

He said the law and order situation in Afghanistan was so bad that even the transitional government’s president, Hamid Karzai, did not feel secure.

If the law and order situation did not improve and the harassment of the Afghans at the hands of the US and National Alliance troops continued, it would pose many social and economic threats to the people of the two countries, he said.

He criticized the lack of health facilities and other civic amenities in the camps.