Pakistan fighting reverses flow of refugees, stirs unease in Afghanistan

KHOST Afghanistan (Reuters) - Thousands of refugees fleeing an offensive by Pakistan's army have poured across the lawless border into ramshackle camps on rugged hills in Afghanistan, stirring unease that Taliban militants may be hiding among them.

The mass departures over the porous border, which many in any case do not recognise, mark a change. For the first time in more than 30 years beleaguered residents are escaping into Afghanistan and not out of it, an irony not lost on local officials or refugee agencies.