October 8, 2001	Monday	Rajab 20, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 7: Around 1 million refugees are expected to cross over into Pakistan after the United States launched air strikes on Afghanistan on Sunday night.

Regional Public Information Officer Central and Southwest Asia, Yousaf Hassan told Dawn that 1.5 million refugees were expected to cross over into neighbouring countries of Afghanistan. The largest refugee population of 1 million was likely to cross over into Pakistan, he said, adding, UNHCR had requested Pakistan to open the borders on humanitarian basis.

Regional Public Affairs Officer World Food Programme, Khalid Mansour, said that it was too early to say how the WFP food delivery operations would be affected inside Afghanistan. However, he said that WFP “expects to continue the work inside Afghanistan where millions of people are facing pre-famine conditions.”