MASHHAD -- More than 163,000 Afghans have left Iran for their homeland based on an accord called "voluntary repatriation program" (VRP), announced a local official Wednesday. Head of the Bureau for Aliens' and Foreign Immigrants' Affairs (BAFIA) in Province of Khorasan Mohammad Olama Khabbaz said, "According to an agreement reached with the Afghan government, 400,000 refugees are to return to Afghanistan from Iran by the yearend (March 20, 2003)." Khabbaz added, "The provincial BAFIA has so far repatriated 10,752 Afghan refugees on the basis of the VRP that began in April and 37,583 others who returned from Iran to Afghanistan."

The UNHCR-Iran-Afghanistan tripartite accord on repatriation of Afghan refugees was signed in Geneva on April 3, IRNA reported.

More than 1.5 million Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland from Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since the VRP started.

The dramatic flow back to Afghanistan is the largest return of refugees anywhere in recent times.