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Iran considers border refugee camps

By CNN's Kasra Naji

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Aid agency sources say the Iranian government is considering setting up camps for Afghan refugees on the border with Afghanistan after the Taliban authorities refused to allow Iran set up camps just inside the Afghan territory.

Iran says it fears a humanitarian catastrophe if, as it expects, up to 1 million Afghans head for the Iranian border.

A new and sudden surge in the number of refugees coming to the border in the last few days have added to these fears.

A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said nearly 2,000 refugees arrived on the Iranian border in the past 24 hours.

This compares with about 500 people who have arrived on the border everyday in the past few days.

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Until last week there had been only a trickle of refugees who rushed to the Iranian border for shelter. Last month, Iran closed its 900 kilometer (600 mile) border with Afghanistan to prevent a new influx of Afghan refugees fleeing the war.

It said it is already home to more than 2.3 million Afghan refugees and it cannot take any more, although it said it is prepared to help set up camps just inside the Afghan territory.

But the Taliban authorities have refused to allow this, except in one case in the southern sector of the joint border.

Now, Iran is considering camps in the no-man's strip of land between Iran and Afghanistan along their joint border.

Aid agencies say they welcome this move, since it is better than leaving the refugees inside Afghanistan where their security cannot be guaranteed.

The United Nations has called on Iran to open its borders to Afghan refugees.