Dr Al-Umera, a 28-year-old who lives in Peshawar, had a determined look when she said: “Insha Allah, it’s time to go home.”
But she knows that it will be difficult for young Afghans who have spent all their life in a foreign land to go back to a country devastated by war and a society that remains one of the most conservative in the world.
The Pakistan government estimates that three million Afghans have crossed the border since the 1979-89 Soviet occupation and ensuing civil war.
More than 135,000 have crossed since the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington, which sparked US air raids on Afghanistan. UN officials admit it will be a long process to get all the refugees to go back.
“My friends tell me: ‘Don’t go there, you are Pakistani now and they will kill you,’” Al-Umera said with a laugh.
The doctor moved from the eastern province of Afghanistan to the Pakistani border city at the age of five.
She last went to her homeland in 1992, before the Taliban. Now she is happy that the rule of the hardline Islamic militia, dominated by the majority Pashtun community, is over.
“I am a Pashtun myself and these people tarnish our image,” she said. “Today the future is bright. I will tell you something, whoever comes to power in Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance or group X or Z, nothing will be the same again.”
So she is determined but also warns that Afghan exiles, born and raised in the liberal West, “have to be patient and modest” when they go back.
“Afghanistan is and will remain an Islamic country. Women in particular must not expect a rapid change in mentalities,” commented the doctor before a friend added: “If she was at her home in Nangarhar she would not even be allowed to sit in the same room as the men.”
The treatment of women was a symbol of the ultra-conservative Taliban, but many observers highlight that even without them Afghan society remains very traditional.
“I am Afghan, my roots are Afghan, and I will probably die in this country,” said another woman in her thirties, who has lived in the United States for a long time.
“ But I know more than ever that I could never marry an Afghan, I am too free and independent,” she added. “People like me brought up western-style will have difficulties getting back into this society.”
Atta-ur-Rahman is 23, was born in Peshawar and educated in a Pakistani school. Today he is studying in a madressah (religious school). His father was once governor of the Afghan province of Kunar and he saw his native country for the first time in 1988, when the Soviet army was leaving the province.
“ It was fascinating. It is an incredible feeling to get to know your country.” Atta-ur-Rahman insists it will not be a cultural shock to return because Peshawar is so close to Afghanistan.
But the scope of the destruction, the ravaged economy scares him more. Afghanistan has become a “dead zone,” he said.
“ I’d like to go as soon as possible in Afghanistan, to pass my remaining life in this country, but only when factions stop to fight,” he said. “Not yet.”
Dr Al-Umera said:”People will have to be trained and educated, technocrats will have to be provided. We are going to face a big challenge. “ One has to suffer; our lives will be turbulent.”—AFP