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Foreign Taliban fighters head for Pakistan

Foreign fighters who fought alongside the Taliban militia and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organisation against the United States are beginning to show up in Pakistan and other countries as the manhunt for terror suspects intensifies.

Pakistan said it is sealing its borders to stop fleeing Taliban fighters, but the long and porous frontier border is making it difficult for the Pakistan border guards to stop the fleeing militiamen, who are also supported by the local tribesmen.

The presence foreign fighters in Afghanistan also complicate plans of the US-backed coalition and the United Nations to install an interim government of Afghans starting on December 22.

Though Pushtoon tribal leaders acknowledged that they had offered Afghan Taliban fighters amnesty, no mention was made of foreign fighters.

Between 1,000 and 2,000 foreign fighters are believed to be in Kandahar, according to Abdul Khaliq, a Pushtoon opposition leader.

Reports also spoke of the presence of foreign fighters in Nangahar, Helmad, Paktia and Logar provinces.

Sam Zarifi, an investigator with Human Rights Watch, said an investigation into the foreign fighters and their families in Paktia and Logar revealed the presence of a large number of Chechen and Arab fighters

These fighters after being pushed out of Mazar-e-Sharif , went to Kabul, and after the Afghan capital fell took shelter in Kandahar and surrounding provinces.

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