Pakistan Caught in the Crossfire

Residents fear an attack from the US and are urging Afghanistan to hand-over Osama bin Laden.

Another faction, Taliban supporters, feels that the demands being made by the US are unfair and it would not be right to hand-over bin Laden without proper evidence. Is there danger of civil war in Pakistan? The Americans need Pakistan to carry out operations in Afghanistan. However, Pakistan, with its countless religious schools, is also the training ground of the Taliban. There's little room for manoeuvre.

The US has warned Afghanistan's ruling Taliban it would help drive them from power if they did not turn over bin Laden and his associates. The Taliban has stated that bin Laden is in hiding in Afghanistan and have placed him in a safe haven under their protection.

The key group in Afghanistan is the Pushtoon people. This is where the Taliban draws its greatest support. More than 40 percent of the 21 million Afghan people are Pushtoon. They don't regard Pakistan as foreign territory. Many Pushtoons live in the border area, divided in colonial times by the British.

For these true believers, there's no doubt about who the enemy is. They're united in their readiness to go to war against America.

This comes at a time when Afghanistan is facing an an epic refugee crisis. The United Nations launched an emergency appeal for $584 million in international aid last Thursday. This would be to help Afghans cope with the coming winter and deal with a worst-case scenario in which a further 1.5 million people may try to flee the country.

Christoph Brummer, the German ambassador to Pakistan who chairs the Afghan Support Group (ASG) representing Afghanistan's main bilateral and multilateral donors, said logistics and not cash were now key to dealing with the crisis.