Click on a number on the map to see entry

The six states which border Afghanistan all have reason to worry about the war, which has already created a new refugee exodus and could lead to instability at home.

Iran opposes the Taleban politically and is already coping with 1.5 million Afghan refugees.

As the birthplace of the Islamic Revolution, Tehran is challenged ideologically by the fundamentalist regime across its border.

President Mohammed Khatami has accused the Taleban of damaging the image of Islam, while his conservative opponents commend the Afghan regime for its rigidity.

The country's Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said Iran would condemn any action that caused a "new human catastrophe" in Afghanistan.

However, President Khatami 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.

Back to top

Pakistan hosts two million Afghan refugees and is the natural destination for many Afghans from the majority Pashtun community.

A traditional US ally, Pakistan is also the main supply route of essential goods to Afghanistan, and is the only state to recognise the Taleban as the legitimate government.

Pakistan has pledged assistance to the US, but remains cautious, in light of the level of popular support for the Taleban within the country.

The Taleban openly threatened any state that would assist the US in its war, and Pakistan's ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, indicated that he would 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.

Back to top

China has reportedly not only closed its tiny border with Afghanistan but also its frontiers with Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Beijing is concerned about links between Islamic Uighur separatists in its north-western region of Xinjiang and Afghanistan.

Some of the militants, who have been waging a guerrilla war since the mid-1990s, are believed to have received training in camps there.

China's has made clear that it expects Washington to back its own tough policies in Xinjiang.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin told President Bush in Beijing last month that China was willing to work to develop a "constructive relationship" with the United States.

"We have a common understanding of the magnitude of the threat posed by international terrorism," President Jiang said.

Until now, the US has frequently criticised China's human rights record in Xinjiang.

Back to top

Tajikistan has come under heavy pressure to accept Afghan refugees in the past, having strong links to the anti-Taleban alliance, part of which is made up of ethnic Tajiks.

Dushanbe is an important diplomatic base for the alliance, which could be a vital source of support for any US-led force infiltrated into Afghanistan.

Tajikistan would be an ideal location for this force to establish a forward base, but the country's leaders will only agree to such a proposal if Moscow supports it.

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.

Back to top

Uzbekistan also has ethnic ties to northern Afghanistan but had until recently escaped the strife which has plagued Tajikistan.

However, in the last couple of years President Islam Karimov's heavy-handed secular rule has been challenged by Islamic militants who have been accused of using Tajikistan and Afghanistan as their bases.

The regional superpower among the ex-Soviet Central Asian republics, Uzbekistan plays an important role in the war against the Taleban.

It signed an agreement with the United States, allowing American forces to be stationed in Uzbekistan and the US air force to use Uzbek airspace and an air base.

And, marking the first time Uzbekistan has opened its border with Afghanistan for four years, it has allowed a big emergency aid operation to go into neighbouring Afghanistan, providing a major boost to the relief effort.

Back to top

Turkmenistan, the other ex-Soviet republic bordering Afghanistan, has largely isolated itself from regional affairs under the Stalinist rule of President Saparmyrat Niyazov.

The Turkmen Government used to have regular contacts with the Taleban, perceiving Afghanistan as a future route for exporting its huge energy reserves.

A foreign ministry source has ruled out any military involvement in Afghanistan on the grounds of neutrality.

But the World Food Programme and the United Nations Children's Agency, Unicef, have sent dozens of trucks filled with food supplies through the Turkmen border, to be distributed in north Afghanistan.