Afghanistan Producing the Most Refugees

Sources of the U.N. High Commission for Refugees said there are 500,000 refugees within the Afghan borders, in addition to 1.4 million in Pakistan and 1.3 million in Iran.

Laura Boldrini, agency spokeswoman, told the Italian newspaper Avvenire, "There are extreme situations, such as the Jalozai transit camp on the border with Pakistan. There, 80,000 people survive without drinking water or drainpipes, risking epidemics. We have requested the Pakistani government to give us additional land for new camps, but their response was negative."

The fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement has been able to seize most of the country since the Soviet Union withdrew its troops in the late 1980s, U.S. government sources indicate.

In addition to the continuing civil strife, the country suffers from enormous poverty, a crumbling infrastructure, and widespread live land mines, the sources say.