Border area calm

While the threat of thousands of Afghan refugees fleeing to Iran persists, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the northeastern city of Mashhad reported on Wednesday that the situation in Khorasan and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces, along the country's 900-km border with Afghanistan, remained calm.

"The situation in both provinces remains unchanged," Mohammad Nouri, the UNHCR spokesman, told IRIN. "There has been no population movement or influx reported by UNHCR monitors along the border area," he said. Nouri thought some Afghans might manage to cross into the country by informal means, but was unable to provide any figures.

In the wake of the 11 September attacks in the US, over one million people inside Afghanistan have fled from their homes, fearing US-led retaliatory strikes against Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks, currently being sheltered by the Taliban.

Should an influx into Iran occur, most of the refugees would be moving in from the western Afghan city of Herat, where over 200,000 internally displaced persons are staying in three camps around the city. UNHCR has received reports of strikes on the airport and telecommunication centre there, in which up to eight civilians were killed.

Asked how people in Herat had reacted to the strikes, Nouri said: "First there was panic, but when they realised the strikes were targeted for specific areas, many of them returned to their homes." He said it was difficult to predict whether these people would attempt to come to the border, but warned that if they felt their homes were targeted, the scenario could change dramatically.

Meanwhile, Nouri confirmed that despite the strikes, Afghans willing to return to Afghanistan of their own free will and resources were continuing to do so in relatively large numbers. Currently, over 4,000 Afghans per week were returning, he said. Judging by random interviews conducted by UNHCR with such returnees, most of them were going back to stay with their families and to support them during these times of hardship, he added.