Pakistan expects some half a million new Afghan refugees in the event of a civil war in neighboring Afghanistan, amid a rapid rise of Taliban militants in the war-torn country, according to a media report here on Wednesday. The Express Tribune reported that this time Pakistani officials say that the refugees will be kept in special camps in the border areas instead of going to the inhabited parts of the country.
Afghan refugees started coming to Pakistan after the invasion of the former Soviet Union in 1979. Pakistan is pushing to send them back, but if Afghanistan plunges into civil war, it may face a new wave of refugees.
The report said that Pakistan expects half a million new Afghan refugees in the event of a civil war in Afghanistan. In a recent briefing to a select group of lawmakers, military officials in Pakistan painted the dire prospects of any peace in Afghanistan.
Members of Parliament were told that Afghanistan was rapidly heading towards civil war, which was not good for Pakistan. The report said the negative repercussions of the unrest in Afghanistan include an increase in terrorism and a fresh influx of Afghan refugees.
Pakistani officials, quoted by the newspaper, said that although the Taliban have made rapid gains in recent weeks, the situation could change if Afghan security forces show some resistance. In recent weeks, insurgents have captured nearly a third of Afghanistan’s rural districts and besieged several provincial capitals.
Hundreds of Afghan security force members have fled to neighboring Tajikistan as the Taliban progressed since the US vacated its main Afghan base as part of a plan to withdraw all foreign troops by September 11. Therefore, it is too early to predict where things are going in Afghanistan. Asked about the possibility of Afghanistan going into the second phase of anarchy, a Pakistani official said the situation is most volatile and unpredictable.
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