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Despite the fall of the Taliban and the formation of a new government by the Loya Jirja, the grand council of elders, Afghan refugees in India are not inclined to return home.
They are more interested in a better life in some developed country than going back to the devastated Afghanistan, which has a long way to go on the road to reconstruction.
"There are no jobs there. All we can go back to is the rubble of our houses and the graves of our relatives and friends," says Feroz Ahmad, a native of Kabul who escaped to India after his father was killed in the fighting between the mujahideens in 1993.
He has no news of his family members, who were in Pakistan eight years ago. "It is painful to live as a refugee. But what would I go back to Afghanistan for?"
For refugees like Ahmad, home has nothing but a sense of belonging to offer. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, around 12,000 Afghans live in India. Most of them want to resettle in a developed country like Australia or Canada and the UNHCR is helping them in this regard.
"Some of my relatives were here before moving to Australia. So I am trying for my resettlement there. If that happens I can start a new life," Ahmad says.
But it is a procedure that can take years to complete and it is the prerogative of the host country to accept or reject a case. What is worse for these refugees is that the rejections have increased post September 11.
Recently, Hayatullah Jafsar, the aide of former Afghan president Najibullah who was executed in 1996, tried to commit suicide outside the UNHCR office in New Delhi, as there were no takers for his resettlement plea.
The lack of medical and other facilities in Afghanistan also keeps the refugees away from their land. For Ubaid Qasimi, Afghanistan means no medicines and health care for his paralytic son.
"I have to treat my son. The doctors here say he can be treated in some European country and walk again. So all I am trying for is resettling to Canada," he says.
But the rich and powerful, like the brother of Yunus Qanooni -- the interior minister in the Hamid Karzai interim government -- have left for Afghanistan.
"Mr Qanooni's family has left for Afghanistan. So have some other people. But the number is less than fifty. The other refugees are not going back," says Gul Hussain Ahmedi, a second secretary in the Afghan embassy.
Many refugees have returned from Pakistan and Iran, where living conditions are worse than those in India, he says.
However, there are many Afghan men studying in Indian colleges who say they will go back to help in the reconstruction of their country.
"I will be completing my studies in a couple of years. Then I have to contribute my bit for my country. I cannot just escape to some place else," says Behzaad Khalidi, a Delhi University student.
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