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An Afghan man carries a boy on his shoulders upon arrival at a processing center for refugees evacuated from Afghanistan at the Dulles Expo Center near Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, US, on Aug 24, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque) -  

The United Nations said on Friday (Aug 27) it was bracing for a possible exodus from violence-ravaged Afghanistan of up to half a million more refugees by the end of 2021.

As a crisis unfolds in the country, a few thousand Afghans have been recorded as entering Iran daily, while traders continue going back and forth from Afghanistan to Pakistan, said Kelly Clements, deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

"While we have not seen large outflows of Afghans at this point, the situation inside Afghanistan has evolved more rapidly than anyone expected," Clements told a Geneva news briefing.

"In terms of numbers we are preparing for around 500,000 new refugees in the region. This is a worst-case scenario," she added.

She stressed in particular the need to boost support for neighbouring countries that already host more than 2.2 million Afghan refugees, and which could soon see the fresh influx.

Even before the Taliban swept into power in Afghanistan nearly two weeks ago, the humanitarian situation in the country had deteriorated dramatically.

Half of the population was already in need of humanitarian assistance, and half of all children under five were estimated to be acutely malnourished.

The UN on Friday presented a plan for UN agencies and partner NGOs to prepare for and respond to the unfolding crisis within Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries.

It urgently appealed for nearly US$300 million to fund the plan.

"We are appealing to all countries neighbouring Afghanistan to keep their borders open so that those seeking safety can find safety," Clements said.

In particular Iran and Pakistan, who together host 90 per cent of the Afghan refugees in the region, along with about 3 million other Afghans without refugee status, "will need a lot of support", she said.

So far, the overwhelming majority of people fleeing the surge in violence in Afghanistan have remained inside the country.

About 7,300 Afghans crossed into neighbouring countries seeking refugee status between Jan 1 and Aug 20, a UNHCR spokesman told AFP.

During the same period, nearly 560,000 Afghans fled within the country, joining some 2.9 million internally displaced people already registered there at the end of 2020, the agency said.

More than 80 per cent of those displaced in 2021 have been women and children.

People are calling an Afghan crisis helpline, reporting "executions and beatings and clampdowns on media and radio stations", said Najeeba Wazedafost, CEO of the Asia Pacific Refugee Network, who voiced special concern for women's safety.

"They tell us their fear of being killed simply for being a female," she said//ANT

U.S. military commanders vowed to hunt down the leaders of Islamic State after Thursday's suicide bomb attack on Kabul airport, pledging to exact revenge on the long-time U.S. adversary for the deaths of dozens of Afghans and U.S. troops.

"We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," U.S. President Joe Biden said in emotional remarks at the White House, promising that group's actions would not stop a mass evacuation airlift.

Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), an affiliate of militants who previously battled U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq, said it had carried out the attack, which killed dozens of people - including Afghans who were trying to leave the country and at least a dozen U.S. service members.

In claiming responsibility, Islamic State said a suicide bomber "managed to reach a large gathering of translators and collaborators with the American army at 'Baran Camp' near Kabul Airport and detonated his explosive belt among them, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100 others, including Taliban fighters."

A Taliban official told Reuters the group arrested an ISIS fighter at the airport a few days ago and under interrogation he told them about plans for attacks. In response, the Taliban said it postponed gatherings in public places and advised its top leaders not to gather.

Biden said he had ordered military commanders to develop plans to strike ISIS assets, leaders and facilities. "We will respond with force and precision at our time at a place we choose in a moment of our choosing," he said.

He said the United States had an idea of who had ordered the attacks, although it was not certain.

ISIS-K is a sworn enemy of the Taliban. But U.S. intelligence officials believe the movement used the instability that led to the collapse of Afghanistan's Western-backed government this month to strengthen its position and step up recruitment of disenfranchised Taliban members.

'NOBLE MISSION'

Thousands of U.S. troops have deployed to Kabul's airport to conduct a massive airlift of U.S. citizens, Afghans who helped U.S. forces and others who fear for their freedom and safety now that the Taliban has seized power in Afghanistan.

"We have put more than 5,000 U.S. service members at risk to save as many civilians as we can. It's a noble mission. And today, we have seen firsthand how dangerous that mission is," Marine General Frank McKenzie of U.S. Central Command told reporters at the Pentagon. "ISIS will not deter us from accomplishing the mission, I can assure you of that."

He warned more attacks were expected, although the military was doing everything possible to prepare.

McKenzie said the United States was prepared to use attack aircraft to defend the airport if necessary, including with AC-130 gunships. "We'll be prepared to do that, should it become necessary to defend the base," he said.

Thursday's attack also underscored concerns over the U.S. counterterrorism capability in Afghanistan, with no U.S. troops or reliable partners left, jails emptied of militants and the Taliban in control. read more

Washington went to war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by militants who had found safe harbor in the country when it was last ruled by the Taliban.

Independent U.N. experts had already told the Security Council in a report published last month that ISIS-Khorasan had expanded its presence to several provinces, including Kabul, and that fighters had formed sleeper cells.

"The group has strengthened its positions in and around Kabul, where it conducts most of its attacks, targeting minorities, activists, government employees and personnel of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces," the report said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reported to the Security Council in June that attacks claimed or attributed to ISIS-Khorasan increased to 88 between March and June, compared with 16 during the same period in 2020. (Reuters)