UN office seeks $98 million for Afghan refugees

The UN Office of High Commissioner for Refugees is expected to appeal next month for $98 million to cover the cost of housing and feeding Afghan refugees in Pakistan this year.That amount is almost double the $52 million it received from noncommunist countries last year, when the number of Afghan refugees totaled just under 1 million.

The agency based its appeal on an estimate that 1.7 million refugees now live in Pakistan, although official Pakistani figures list more than 2 million Afghans registered for refugee assistance and project an increase of 80,000 to 100,000 a month for the re st of the year.