MIRANSHAH, Sept 30: Owing to the closure of Torkham and Chaman checkpoints on the Pakistan-Afghan border, the influx of hundreds of fresh Afghan refugees from the Khost province of Afghanistan continues through frequented and unfrequented routes in the Ghulam Khan area of the North Waziristan Agency.

Some refugees, while talking to Dawn here on Saturday, said that despite strict checking by the Taliban authorities of Khost province, the Afghans somehow managed to cross into Pakistan through the Ghulam Khan route.

The tribal drivers charged the fresh refugees Rs500 to Rs1,000 to bring them to the North Waziristan Agency headquarters, Miranshah, in the night. The political administration has sealed the border and conducted strict checking on checkpoints in the agency, the refugees said, adding that the staff of the Mohammad Farooq checkpost of Ghulam Khan area returned hundreds of refugees trying to enter Pakistan illegally daily.

The refugees said that the Afghans were fed up as they had fought for 14 years against the Russian forces and later skirmishes among the Mujahideen groups ruined their lives and country. They said that the prolonged strife had destroyed the economic and educational infrastructure of Afghanistan.

The Taliban are fully prepared to take on the possible onslaught of American forces, they said, adding that whenever outside powers invaded Afghanistan, they had to face the worst defeat. They said that the fate of the American forces would not be different from that of the Russian forces if strikes were launched against Afghanistan.

The chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, North Waziristan Agency, Maulana Abdur Rehman, that the tribal people had raised a force of 50,000 youths to fight for Taliban in case Afghanistan was attacked.