of faith. up there is a makeshift taliban flag. not, you ll notice, the afghan national flag, even though this is the afghanistan border. just over there, two soldiers facing off. the nearer one pakistani, the further one is taliban, with a white facemask. behind them is a growing crowd of people, desperate to get into pakistan. many of them are hoping to get through on medical grounds, and if they ve got the right documents, both the taliban and the pakistanis will let them and their families through. they shuffle along in a continuous line; you can see how happy they are when they have finally made it through. this taliban guard seems relaxed, but makes no apologies for what s happened. the setup in afghanistan has changed, he tells me. it was democratic.
our world affairs editorjohn simpson has travelled through the khyber pass to the border between pakistan and afghanistan at torkham. every inch of ground here has been fought overfor 3,000 years. the insignia of former british and indian regiments are carefully preserved along the way, and the khyber s a major trade route. trucks toil up the gradients, carrying afghan fruit and vegetables into pakistan. the occasional passenger, too. smugglers trudge along the footpaths, as they always have. at the head of the khyber, torkham, the border crossing into afghanistan. now, above it, is a white flag, carrying the shahada, the muslim proclamation of faith. up there is a makeshift taliban flag. not, you ll notice, the afghan national flag, even though this is the afghanistan border.
in pakistan and an estimated one million undocumented. our world affairs editor john simpson has travelled through the khyber pass to the border between pakistan and afghanistan at torkham. every inch of ground here has been fought over for 3,000 years. the insignia of former british and indian regiments are carefully preserved along the way, and the khyber s a major trade route. trucks toil up the gradients, carrying afghan fruit and vegetables into pakistan. the occasional passenger, too. smugglers trudge along the footpaths as they always have. at the head of the khyber, torkham, the border crossing into afghanistan. now, above it is a white flag carrying the shahada,
are carefully preserved along the way, and the khyber s a major trade route. trucks toil up the gradients carrying afghan fruit and vegetables into pakistan the occasional passenger, too. smugglers trudge along the footpaths as they always have. at the head of the khyber, torkham, a border crossing into afghanistan. now, above it is a white flag carrying the shahada, the muslim proclamation of faith. up there is a makeshift taliban flag not, you notice, the afghan national flag, even though this is the afghan border. just over there, two soldiers facing off. the nearer one is pakistani. the further one is taliban, with a white face mask. behind them is a growing crowd of people desperate to get into pakistan.
many of them are hoping to get through on medical grounds, and if they ve got the right documents, both the taliban and the pakistanis will let them and their families through. they shuffle along in a continuous line and you can see how happy they are when they finally made it through. this taliban guard seems relaxed, but makes no apologies for what s happened. the set up in afghanistan has changed, he tells me. it was democratic, now the flag of the islamic emirate flies over it. at a border crossing further south, there s been a continuous flood of refugees. most will end up staying here in pakistan, though the younger ones dream of getting out. anwar, for instance from an afghan family which has lost almost everything is desperate to get to the west. if anyone, like, give me