The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said today it needed $252 million to respond to a looming refugee crisis in Afghanistan. In a funding appeal presented to donors yesterday, UNHCR said it was preparing for an influx of up to one million refugees into Pakistan, some 400,000 into Iran; 50,000 into Tajikistan and 50,000 into Turkmenistan.
"The borders of all five countries surrounding Afghanistan are closed. The people in Afghanistan are trapped," said UNHCR spokesman Mr Rupert Colville, speaking at a news conference in Quetta.
"Six UN agencies have released a strongly worded statement appealing to those countries to open their borders for people's safety and survival. I have never seen such strong language," he said.
Mr Colville said the estimates were arrived at by the UNHCR's most experienced teams, who have drawn up the numbers from on the ground reports. Those teams have experience in dealing with refugee crises in Kosovo and Rwanda, he said.
So far a relatively small number of refugees have actually entered Pakistan during the current crisis. But the UNHCR says that anticipation of air strikes and fighting against the Taliban has created fear and led to considerable new displacement within Afghanistan. Even before the current crisis, the country had one million internally displaced person who have suffered from drought and poverty.
Although UNHCR teams have begun a four day mission in the northwest frontier to inspect 75 possible sites that may be used for refugee camps, officials have had less co-operation from authorities in Quetta, which is the closest city to the Chaman border in the south.
A number of refugees are camped out on the Afghanistan border but officials have still not been allowed to see them. People are heading to this area from even the northern reaches of the country, choosing to walk three to 10 ten hours rather than cross the treacherous northern Kyber Pass.
Mr Colville said UN staff is still trying to meet the Balochistan province home secretary, but have been unsuccessful. "He is a very busy man," said Mr Colville.
Among the plans under discussion is a scheme to register the refugees by four joint UNHCR government teams and then transport them by truck to an old refugee site called Dara some 12 kilometres away. As the current refugees, whose number is estimated at 5,000 to 10,000, sit on an unsheltered plain near Chaman, some 2,000 tents, 6,000 quilts, 2,000 kitchen sets and 4,000 buckets are sitting in the World Food Program warehouse in Quetta.
Officials say the supplies can be moved quickly, but cannot be brought to the refugees without the permission of the Pakistan government, which thus far has stalled.
"Pakistan is worried and rightly so about the number of refugees. The international community must respond," said Mr Colville.
The US Secretary for Defence, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, said that the US strike would not be a dramatic "D- Day" type of action. Mr Colville said that Mr Rumsfeld's statement might allay the fears of people inside Afghanistan and calm them somewhat.
"Many Afghans have access to BBC radio and I think quite a few of them may have heard about the statement," he said.
The reason refugees are beginning the flow into Pakistan are myriad; they include drought, diminishing food supplies, and a stepped up presence on the part of the Taliban. One refugee said she had arrived severeal weeks ago in part because the Taliban were trying to recruit her brothers into the jihad against the west.