The government of Pakistan has allowed almost 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees to open accounts with local banks in the neighboring country.

The announcement was made by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan in a twitter post.   

“I have issued instructions today that Afghan refugees who are registered can open bank accounts and from now onwards they participate in the formal economy of the country,” he said in a tweet on Monday afternoon. “This should have been done a long time ago.”

Figures indicate that there are almost 2.5 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan out of which at least 1.5 million are registered. 

The move comes as the fifth round of US-Taliban talks is about to take place in Doha on Tuesday. 

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 3.8 million refugees have been repatriated to Afghanistan since 2002 but many returned to Pakistan due to ongoing violence, unemployment and a lack of education and medical facilities.