Fearful Afghans have begun fleeing the country as their hardline Taliban rulers vowed to wage a holy war against anyone helping Washington launch attacks on the country and urged Muslims to fight to their deaths.
Hundreds of residents in the Afghan capital Kabul - convinced the United States will soon launch retaliatory strikes for the devastating terror attacks on New York and Washington - were packing up to leave on Saturday.
Many aimed to cross the border into Pakistan, but faced with 10-day waits for passports and visas some resigned themselves to seeking refuge in rural areas.
"Those who have the means...are all leaving for Pakistan, but it's a long process to get passports and visas," said one resident.
The Taliban also told the few remaining foreigners in the city to evacuate "for their own safety", the group's Afghan Islamic Press said.
Most already have, although the fate of eight foreign aid workers held by the Taliban for over a month on charges of spreading Christianity remains uncertain.
While there were no convoys leaving the city, the bus stations in the centre of the capital were busier than ever, and vehicles were hard to come by.
Newspapers in neighbouring Pakistan said the number of people arriving from Afghanistan had risen considerably in the last two days, swelling already crowded refugee camps along the border.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has also stopped screening refugees for possible repatriation to Afghanistan - a process only started last month in a bid to resettle around two million Afghans living in Pakistan.
The Taliban, however, urged people to stay and fight.
"All the Muslims in the world should support their Islam and their own belief, should defend Afghanistan ... and should be ready for anything to make a sacrifice for Islam," Taliban leader Mullah Omar told the Voice of Shariyatradio station.
"Each Muslim should be ready for a jihad...be ready for his religion if there is a need for him to sacrifice himself for Islam."
US officials have made it clear they believe Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, who lives as a "guest" of the Taliban, was linked to the suicide plane attacks on the United States.
US President George W. Bush has been given congressional approval to use "all necessary force" against those responsible and any country which shelters them.
Afghanistan's problems were compounded by the death on Friday of legendary guerrilla Ahmad Shah Masood, who commanded the Northern Alliance, the Taliban's main military opponents, following an assassination suicide bomb attack last Sunday.
The United Nations said also it feared another massive population displacement in drought- and conflict-ravaged Afghanistan, saying there were almost six million vulnerable people, around 25 per cent of the population.