Pakistan fighting reverses flow of refugees, stirs unease in Afghanistan

Pakistan fighting reverses flow of refugees, stirs unease in Afghanistan | Reuters
The mass departures over the porous border, which many in any case do not recognise, mark a change. For the first time in more than 30 years beleaguered residents are escaping into Afghanistan and not out of it, an irony not lost on local officials or refugee agencies.
Authorities in Khost province are offering a warm welcome and what little they have to shelter the newcomers. But intelligence officers and the army are uneasy - some refugees from North Waziristan province could be Islamist activists of the Pakistani Taliban, the target of Pakistan's offensive.
"These communities for decades have been the ones benefiting from support from tribal communities in North Waziristan when they had to flee," said Bo Shack, the top official in Afghanistan of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.