US film star Angelina Jolie made a surprise visit to Afghanistan this week, a spokesman for United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR said Thursday, DPA reported.
During her two-day visit, which was shrouded in secrecy due to concerns for her safety, the Hollywood actress paid a visit to displaced people in Kabul, Nader Farhad, an agency spokesman, said.
Thousands of Afghans have fled to the capital and other relatively peaceful regions from war-plagued provinces in the south.
Jolie also met in Kabul with refugee returnees, still struggling to survive and reintegrate almost 10 years after returning to Afghanistan, the spokesman said.
More than 5.5 million refugees have returned since 2002, mainly from neighboring Iran and Pakistan, according to a UNHCR statement.
The bulk of the former refugees, who account for nearly 20 per cent of the population, continue to live without jobs, shelter and other basic needs despite billions of Western dollars poured into the country.
"The focus needs to be put now on reintegration and that means not just putting up shelter but making sure there is water, job opportunities, a school for the children and medical clinics," Jolie said in a statement released by UNHCR on Wednesday at the end of the visit.
Jolie, a UNHCR goodwill ambassador, met a group of young girls who are due to study at a new primary school that is being built in a village north of Kabul city with funding from the actress, the statement said.
Jolie's visit, which started on Monday, was her second to Afghanistan since the ouster of Taliban in late 2001.
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