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Wednesday, 19 September, 2001, 11:12 GMT 12:12 UK
On edge: Afghanistan's neighbours
Click on a number on the map to see entry The six states which border Afghanistan all have reason to worry about the crisis, which at best could mean a new refugee exodus and at worst war or instability at home.
However, President Khatami is reported to have signalled to the US that his government would not oppose carefully targeted military strikes. Iran and Afghanistan nearly went to war in the late 1990s over the Sunni Muslim Taleban's treatment of Afghanistan's Shia Muslim minority, and particularly the deaths of Iranian diplomats caught up in Afghanistan's civil war. Iran has now sealed its border with Afghanistan in order to prevent any new influx of refugees.
Pakistan has pledged assistance to the US, but may be constrained by the level of popular support for the Taleban within the country. The Taleban openly threaten any states that would assist the US in the event of war, and Pakistan's ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, has indicated that he will not allow the US to deploy troops in his country. At worst, General Musharraf, who himself came to power in a coup, risks provoking a challenge to his rule from pro-Taleban, anti-US hardliners.
It has also made clear that it expects Washington to back its own tough policies in Xinjiang. Until now, the US has frequently criticised China's human rights record there.
The country is itself facing a famine which could easily destabilise the fragile power-sharing government. During Tajikistan's ferocious civil war in the early 1990s, Islamic forces opposed to the Moscow-backed government were supplied from Afghanistan. Russia still keeps substantial military forces in the former Soviet republic, mainly to patrol the border with Afghanistan. As with Afghanistan's other borders, and notably Iran's, drug-smuggling is a serious problem here.
Unlike Tajikistan, none of the Afghan territory it borders is held by the anti-Taleban opposition. Responding to the US appeal for allies, the Uzbek Government said it was ready to discuss "any issue conducive to eliminating terrorism and strengthening stability".
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