US 'should drop Afghan embargo'

Pakistan says sanctions increase refugee numbers

Pakistan has called on the United States to drop sanctions against Afghanistan and negotiate for the extradition of the wanted Islamic militant, Osama bin Laden.

Abdus Sattar: Time to negotiate

Speaking during a visit to Egypt, Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar said the sanctions had worsened the civil war in Afghanistan and increased the refugee problem.

"The effect has been exactly the opposite of what has been envisaged at the time the resolutions were passed," he said.

It is believed to be the first official comment from Pakistan since new sanctions were imposed by the UN in December, at the behest of the US and Russia.

Refugees

Mr Sattar said Pakistan had received 150,000 refugees since the sanctions were imposed.

Last week, Pakistan warned it would evict 100,000 Afghan refugees from a camp that had been running for 20 years.

The authorities in North-West Frontier Province told the refugees they had to go home by 15 July.

There are already about one million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, along with an estimated two million illegal immigrants.

Fresh sanctions

Afghanistan's Taleban rulers have so far refused to hand over Osama bin Laden because they say there is no evidence against him.

The US has accused him of masterminding the bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, in which more than 220 people were killed.

Sanctions were imposed by the UN in 1999.

They were tightened in December last year, when the UN voted to impose an arms embargo on the Taleban as well as tighten an existing flight embargo and freeze the Taleban's assets abroad.