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Amnesty Asks Who Will Assume Responsibility for Afghan Refugees
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
IslamOnline & News Agencies

“... There is an impending humanitarian disaster for those internally displaced who can't make it across the border.”

WASHINGTON
The vast majority of Afghan refugees crossing the border to Pakistan are seeking shelter from the U.S. bombing campaign, according to a statement issued Wednesday by Amnesty International.

The London-based international human rights group called on the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition to "assume a much larger responsibility" for the refugee crisis being created by its relentless bombing campaign.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 100,000 Afghans have already crossed the border into Pakistan since September 11, and thousands more continue to flee.

"After having interviewed a number of refugees that have reached Pakistan recently, one thing has become very clear to me," Carl Soderbergh, head of Amnesty International's delegation in Pakistan, was quoted in the statement as saying. "All those we are meeting tell us that they are fleeing Afghanistan because of the bombing campaign."

Amnesty said that this conclusion was corroborated by findings of NGOs and others who are working with refugees.
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Dan