Afghan neighbours wary of new refugee crisis as violence surges

An internally displaced Afghan girl carries a child at a camp on the outskirts of Kabul.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani meets regional leaders for talks in Uzbekistan on Thursday as deteriorating security in his country raises fears of a new Afghan refugee crisis with neighbouring Pakistan already ruling out taking any more. Several million Afghans have been displaced within their country over years of war, 270,000 of them in fighting since January as U.S.-led foreign forces have been withdrawing, according to the U.N. refugee agency. With Taliban insurgents apparently intent on defeating Ghani's Western-backed government, Afghanistan's neighbours are on alert for refugees crossing borders as the fighting intensifies and living conditions deteriorate. "The meetings in Tashkent will focus on Afghanistan's future and involve intense diplomacy," a diplomat briefed on the matter said of the two-day gathering.