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The ruling Taleban threatens war against nearby countries if they help the United States in an assault.
©Associated Press
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 16, 2001
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Fearing a revenge attack by the United States for the hijackings in New York and Washington, Afghans began leaving their capital Saturday and stocking up on food and other supplies.
"There is no pleasure in life anyway, so I don't care if the bombs come and I have to die along with my children," said Leilama, a 38-year-old mother of six in Kabul. "But the United States should know that the Afghan people are not their enemies."
The Taleban leadership, which is under fire for harboring suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, called on the people to "stand proud" and threatened war on nations that aid in a U.S. assault on Afghanistan.
"If neighboring or regional countries, particularly Islamic countries, gave a positive response to American demands for military bases, it would spark off extraordinary danger. Similarly, if any neighboring country gave territorial way or airspace to the U.S.A. against our land, it would draw us into an imposed war," said the Taleban ambassador in Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef.
While the Taleban official did not specify the target of the warning, it appeared directed at Pakistan, the Taleban's leading supporter and the object of heavy U.S. diplomatic pressure this week.
Afghanistan, a Central Asian nation of 21-million people, has already endured Soviet invasion, civil war, the rise of the radical Taleban regime, widespread hunger and most recently a punishing drought. Beleaguered Afghans seemed resigned to adding American fury to their long list of woes.
Residents of Kabul were spending their meager savings to stock up on food. Afghans lined up Saturday outside a barbed wire fence on the border at Torkham, trying to cross into Pakistan. Taleban fighters beat people back with sticks.
"I don't want my children to die in a war," said Sabira, who like many Afghans uses only one name. She waited at the fence with her two boys and two girls, ages 4 to 9.
A 9-year-old boy named Abdul escaped into Pakistan, but his mother, father and siblings were still stuck on the Afghan side. "I won't go back," he said. "I'll just wait and hope they will come, too."
Pakistan and Iran each have about 2-million Afghan refugees already. Saying it cannot accommodate new arrivals, Iran on Saturday ordered its security forces to seal off its 560-mile border with Afghanistan, its interior ministry said. Pakistan has also agreed to close its borders, Pakistani officials said.
Fears of an impending U.S. military attack are rife in Afghanistan. Responsibility for Tuesday's terror attacks has not been established, but the United States has pointed to bin Laden as the prime suspect.
That makes Afghanistan a likely target of a U.S. assault. The radical Taleban militia, which rules about 95 percent of Afghanistan, has provided a safe haven to bin Laden since 1996.
The Taleban have said they do not intend to hand over bin Laden to the United States unless Washington provides convincing evidence against him.
"I am not afraid of death or of losing power. I am willing to give up power and my seat, but I'm not willing to give up Islam," the Taleban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, said in a radio address Friday. "We shall be victorious." He urged Afghans to remain steadfast, telling them to "stand proud as Afghans in the defense of Islam."
Afghanistan has the world's worst refugee crisis, which has intensified since Tuesday's attacks. It can now expect less aid from the United Nations and foreign relief agencies, most of whose staff have evacuated. Foreigners were ordered to leave Saturday, and the Taleban have stopped issuing visas.
"These days, every night we sit by the radio and listen to the reports. We are afraid but don't have the money to leave," said Zabiullah, a Kabul doctor and father of five.
Like many residents, he waited in line at a shop to stock up on food, in this case a pound of beans.
"Whatever happens, I leave myself and my children in the hands of God. This is a city of beggars," he said. "We can only hope that the United States will not bomb us. We pray."
Prices for basic foodstuffs have risen by 10 percent or more since Tuesday, making it even more difficult than usual for people to afford them.
"This morning a man came to me, gave me the watch he was wearing and asked for some rice," said Kabul shopkeeper Mohammed Sarwar. "People have been coming with their belongings and asking for food in return."
- Information from Cox News Service was used in this report.