Afghanistan: July 4, 2002

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Some 25,000 Pushtun refugees in northern Afghanistan are stuck on the Pakistan border because Pakistan will not let the Pushtuns enter. Pakistan wants to get Afghans out of the country. The Pushtuns trying to get in are fleeing abuse by Afghan Uzbek tribesmen who are exacting revenge for abuse northern Pushtun's inflicted on non-Pushtuns during the period of Taliban rule. The Taliban knew that their brand of strict Islam was mainly a Pushtun thing and encouraged the local Pushtuns in northern Afghanistan (and additional Pushtuns who moved north after the Taliban advanced into the north in the late 1990s) to terrorize non-Pushtuns into obeying the Taliban. This has not been forgotten.