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Pakistan to Accept 2 Million Afghans
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
MSNBC Staff & Wire Reports

Islamabad wants $122 million in aid from other nations

An Afghan woman looks after her sick child Monday on the outskirts of Peshawar, near Pakistan's northwestern border with Afghanistan.

Location -- Source
The Pakistani government is making emergency preparations to accept more than 2 million Afghan refugees in the event of a U.S. attack on Afghanistan, MSNBC.com has learned. A formal announcement of the plan, scheduled for Wednesday, will mark a major policy shift by Pakistan, which is already struggling to provide for millions of Afghan refugees who have fled more than two decades of conflicts in Afghanistan.

“[In the event of hostilities], in our discussions with the United Nations, we are looking at conservative figures of maybe between one to two million refugees,” Pakistani cabinet minister Abbas Khan told MSNBC.com in an exclusive interview.

Khan, the minister in charge of refugees, said that Islamabad would be seeking an immediate $122 million in aid from international donor nations. A joint appeal with the United Nations will be launched on Wednesday, Khan said.
(More: MSNBC News Source)

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