Thousands of Afghans arrive in Quetta

Up to 15,000 Afghans have arrived in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan Province during the past week, according to UNHCR. Some 10,000 Afghans crossed into Quetta in the days immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, UNHCR said, and another group of 5,000 Afghans are encamped near the Chaman crossing point just inside Pakistan. Pakistan officially closed its border with Afghanistan on Monday but Afghans claim they can cross into Quetta if they pay bribes to border guards. "I paid 3,000 (Pakistani) rupees to the guards. I was lucky, but many others can't afford to pay," Khalil Ahmed, an Afghan refugee who arrived from Kabul two days ago with his parents told IRIN. He said he had paid around 5,000 rupees (US $78) in total once he reached Pakistan. Most of the new arrivals are staying with relatives and friends living in and around Quetta, according to UNHCR. Others have found shelter with Afghan families who have lived for some time in Pakistan. Some families have taken three or four newly arrived Afghan families into their homes. Talks are currently underway with the Pakistan government to determine whether the 5,000 Afghans at the Chaman border crossing can be integrated into existing camps where shelter and water are readily available or whether new camps should be established to shelter new arrivals - a time consuming and expensive exercise. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Tuesday that about half of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar's population, including many Taliban leaders, had left to the rural areas and towards the border with Pakistan. In addition, about a quarter of the population "may have left Kabul," according to OCHA. Afghan refugees in Quetta told IRIN that the Taliban have put up roadblocks to prevent young men from leaving Afghanistan saying they must stay and defend their country. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council met privately in New York yesterday for a briefing on the political, military and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, "including the dire consequences of Taliban rule for the Afghan people," according to a statement by the president of the Council. The statement added: "There is one and only one message the Security Council has for the Taliban: implement United Nations Security Council resolutions, in particular 1333, immediately and unconditionally." That resolution imposed sanctions on Afghan rulers and demanded, among other things, the handover of Usama bin Laden, at that time for the August 1998 bombings of United States embassies in Africa. A day after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon both the Security Council and the General Assembly passed resolutions that not only condemned these acts of terror but also stressed that those who aid, support or harbour those responsible "will be held accountable."