Pakistan's Secret Services Preparing Lists Of "Volunteers" Who Fought In Afghanistan

The secret services of Pakistan are preparing lists of the young men who, upon the call by the Pakistani religious leaders, joined the jihad in Afghanistan, the influential News newspaper wrote on Monday. No one knows the exact number of the Pakistani citizens who fought on the side of the Taliban but the matter may probably concern thousands of "volunteers." According to information from one militant organisation, not named by the newspaper, about 600 young fanatics perished in Afghanistan since this past September. Islamabad shows extremely grave concern over the fate of its citizens who fought on the Taliban's side. President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani, however, stated in Kabul the day before that life would be guaranteed to all foreign mercenaries. "We will hand all the foreigners over to UN representatives", Rabbani said. "I have already asked [special envoy of the UN Secretary-General] Francesc Vendrell to deal with this issue at the international level."