The unwanted

Afghans have been coming to Pakistan since the 1979 Soviet invasion. At first they were welcomed with open arms as fellow Muslims fighting to free their land from the infidel communists and soon integrated themselves into the economic and social life of Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

Peshawar's public transport system is owned and run by Afghans, and across the city a huge number of Afghan restaurants serve the traditional Kabuli rice with raisins, carrots and chunks of meat, a dish that is a world away from Pakistan's oily Mughal cuisine.

But despite their initial warm welcome, Afghans have not had an easy time in Pakistan. Harassment from the police and army is common. Before the present crisis, the Pakistan government was repatriating Afghans and threatening to demolish some of the permanent camps. As Pakistan's economic situation has deteriorated, Afghans have been made scapegoats, which makes the recent pro-Taliban demonstrations particularly galling to many Afghans.

Atiyullah, a Tajik from northern Afghanistan now resident in Peshawar, said: "Most of the time the Pakistanis say 'We don't like Afghans. They come here, take our jobs and ruin our economy.' Then a few days later they are saying Afghans are our brothers and we will die for them."

There are also concerns that some refugees could be Taliban sympathizers ready to become a fifth column inside Pakistan, attacking Western and Pakistani targets in revenge for U.S. strikes on Afghanistan.

Disease is yet another reason for the Pakistani authorities to confine and isolate refugees. The region around the city of Jalalabad, only 40 miles from Pakistan, is on the verge of a malaria epidemic, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (UNOCHA).

The malaria is the falciparum strain, the most deadly type found in Afghanistan, which can kill a child in five days. The spread of the disease is being exacerbated by the exodus of urban people into the countryside. Rural clinics are seeing double their usual number of patients as frightened Afghans leave the cities.

A UNOCHA spokesperson said that insecticides and 10,000 mosquito nets are being distributed in northeastern Afghanistan but relief work is being hampered by the Taliban's refusal to allow local U.N. workers to use radio communications.

And as if to pile another torment upon long-suffering refugees, a hospital in the border town of Quetta Thursday confirmed that they are treating patients suffering from a disease similar to the Ebola virus. Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) attacks veins and arteries, leading to the collapse of major organs, with the sufferer bleeding to death from every orifice. One doctor said sufferers "literally melt in front of your eyes".

Doctors at the Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital have set up an isolation ward to treat the sick. The disease, which first appeared in June, has killed eight people so far. All were either Afghan refugees or lived close to the Afghan border. The hospital's Dr. Taj Mohammad said, "There's a real risk of a CCHF epidemic among Afghan refugees."

The most optimistic view is that the aid package the U.S. announced Wednesday will stop the flow of refugees from Afghanistan and provide aid to those who have already left. But for now, a grimmer view prevails near the border: After fleeing to a country where they are not wanted, refugees will be kept in camps where water will be at a premium and disease a very real possibility. They will spend the winter in an inhospitable, remote and dangerous region in which foreign aid workers may be unable to work. Media access will be either denied or very tightly controlled. Their plight, like the plight of so many Afghans since 1979, may be hidden from view.

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