In pictures: Ordinary Afghans struggle to survive

Others have been less lucky. The arid Sheik Misri settlement on the outskirts of the eastern town of Jalalabad is home to thousands of people without property who have returned home after decades in Pakistani refugee camps.

This boy arrived in October with his father, Nur Rahman. "It is very difficult to live here," Nur Rahman says. "We have to collect water from a well far away from where we have been allowed to settle.

"We often have to pay for the water."