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Afghans wait their turn near recently-erected razor wire to cross into Pakistan at Pakistan-Afghan border of Chaman, 130 km (81 miles) northwest of Baluchistan's provincial capital of Quetta. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was preparing for an exodus of over 1.5 million Afghans.
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Pakistan says it is not ruling out opening its borders to Afghan refugees in the future but says that for reasons of national security its borders will currently remain closed, according to a provincial governor.
Mr Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, governor of the North West Frontier Province which bordering Afghanistan, told a news conference that people allied to the Northern Alliance, who are critical of Pakistan, could indulge in sabotage.
"Secondly the Taliban have also threatened dire consequences if attacked," he said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights(UNHCHR), Mrs Mary Robinson, said yesterday that an exodus of more than 1.5 million Afghans could be expected, with nearly one million arriving in Pakistan and half a million in Iran.
UNHCHR spokesman Mr Yusuf Hassan said yesterday that Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were making plans to accommodate a further 150,000 refugees. Afghans already make up the world's largest refugee population, of about 3.7 million.
However, the governor said that while refugees without valid visas would be turned away at the border, those who slipped across the frontier would be cared for.
"We know.. that some Afghans will definitely manage to get in. The camps will be for those people who manage to get in, we have to take them somewhere," Mr Shah said.
The North West Frontier Province has designated 100 sites just a few kilometres from the frontier that could accommodate up to one million Afghan refugees, the UNHCR has said.
Four teams made up of UN officials, foreign aid agencies and Pakistani officials today began a four-day trip to inspect 75 sites in six tribal agencies on the border to assess the state of water, sanitation, health, storage and security.
The border was closed last week to all Afghans without valid visas amid government fears that a new flood of refugees would overwhelm Pakistan.