Pakistan pressed to reverse immigrant ban

Pakistani guards bar the way at a border post near Peshawar

Afghanistan's Taleban authorities have called on the Pakistan government to reverse its decision to close the border to all new refugees.

The Taleban representative in Islamabad, Salam Zaeef, said Pakistan should continue that he called its long co-operation with the Afghan people.

Twelve million Afghans have been hit by drought

He said the Taleban were trying to cope with the refugees who had been turned back from the border, but there was a shortage of water and accommodation in the area.

Pakistan has said that no more Afghan refugees will be allowed into its North-West Frontier and Baluchistan provinces because of the worsening economic and security situation in the country.

Over the past few months, there has been a sharp increase in the number of Afghans crossing the border, with hundreds flooding out each day.

Some say they are escaping the fighting in the north, others that the drought has forced them to leave.

Shortage of funds

Most are being cared for in a refugee camp run by the United Nations, which has also appealed for Pakistan to reconsider its decision.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is trying to raise funds to assist the refugees, but officials say there has been little international response.

Children are being checked for illness

Checkpoints have now been set up inside Afghanistan to stop the refugees reaching the border.

Pakistan hosts one of the world's biggest refugee groups, with more than a million in camps and many more living outside.

The authorities say they cannot afford to admit any more, as they have already reached saturation point.

Officially, Afghan travellers must carry valid documents. But the BBC's Susannah Price in Islamabad, says that in practice they have been allowed to enter Pakistan freely.

In addition, the border between the two countries is mountainous, making its monitoring difficult and allowing many to slip through poorly guarded mountain trails.