Russia believes some 300,000 Afghans may flee into the former Soviet central Asian republics in the event that the United States launches reprisal strikes on Afghanistan, the emergency situations ministry said Thursday.
Deputy Emergency Situations Minster Yury Brazhnikov is to travel to the Tajik capital Dushanbe Sunday "to discuss the situation" with the local authorities, ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov told AFP.
Tajikistan, which has a 1,200 kilometre (800 mile) border with Afghanistan, is one of three former Soviet republics that adjoin northern Afghanistan.
Its president, Emomali Rakhmonov, said last week that conditions in his country made it impossible to take in Afghan refugees.
Some 14,000 Afghan refugees are already encamped on islands in the Pyandzh river between the two countries, having fled an offensive last year by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militias.
Washington is currently pondering reprisal action in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are accused of harbouring the Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington that left nearly 7,000 people dead or missing -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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