Govt begins expelling Afghan refugees
7/10/08
Pakistani authorities have begun expelling Afghan refugees from a tribal region that has become the main battleground between troops and fighters linked to the Taleban and Al-Qaeda, officials said yesterday. “They have to go. There will be no concession,” Safirullah Wazir, the government’s top administrator in Bajaur, told Reuters. “We have reports of their links with militants and their involvement in terrorist activities.” Troops, backed by fighter planes and helicopter gunships, have killed more than 1,000 fighters in the Bajaur region since early August. A Pakistani general last month described Bajaur as a new “center of gravity” for militancy and said that if the security forces prevailed two-thirds of the militant problem in the region could be eradicated.
See: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=115191&d=7&m=10&y=2008
Tags: Afghanistan, Pakistan, USA