The September 11th attack
Pakistan shuts border to neighbor Afghanistan
Associated Press
Pakistan virtually shut down the border with Afghanistan on Monday, beefing up troops and sending more police to enforce an order confining 1.2 million Afghan refugees to the dozens of camps in its Northwest Frontier province. Nothing except food was getting through the 1,560-mile border, said Farooq Shah, a border official at the border town of Torkham. Pakistan is also not letting in any new refugees.
Advertiser library photo • April 26, 1998
The border closure was one of several requests made by the United States. Other requests include use of Pakistan's airspace and soil and the exchange of intelligence material.
Financed by the Saudis, trained by the Pakistanis, the Taliban gradually took control of Afghanistan, where at first they were welcomed for bringing order to the country after the Soviets' withdrawal.
Pakistan's decision to give "full support" to the United States drew widespread protest Sunday from hard-line Islamists. Demonstrators burned U.S. flags, shouted their support of bin Laden, and warned the government they would take up arms for the Taliban.
"If Afghanistan is attacked, we will take part in the fight against America," shouted militant Muslim leader Abdul Ahad to an estimated 1,000 demonstrators in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border. Protesters also shouted anti-American slogans in the federal capital, Islamabad.
Most of Pakistan's 140 million people are devout but relatively moderate Muslims, but there are several strong militant Islamic groups operating in the country and thousands of religious schools that turn out young boys dedicated to jihad — holy war. Most of these militant groups are well armed and could pose a threat to the rule of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
