Pakistan Asks Red Cross To Ensure Safety of Foreign Fighters in Kunduz - 2001-11-22

Pakistan has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to help prevent revenge killings of Taleban forces and their allied foreign fighters under siege in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf met with I-C-R-C President Jakob Kellenberger in Islamabad today (Thursday) to express his concern about the situation.

Thousands of Afghan Taleban, al-Qaida fighters - mostly Pakistani, Chechen and Arabs - are surrounded by anti-Taleban forces in the last Taleban-held city in northern Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials say Mr. Kellenberger promised to try his best to prevent human rights abuses in Afghanistan.

Pakistan, which never officially permitted its citizens to fight alongside the Taleban, earlier appealed for the safety of the fighters trapped in Kunduz.

U-S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he is against any agreement that would provide safe passage for foreign fighters out of Afghanistan. He says that could go any where and bring terror to other countries.

The exact number of foreign fighters in Kunduz remains unclear. U-S officials estimate the number could about three thousand.