Fearing that foreign captives fighting with the Taliban face massacre or detention and interrogation by the US, Saudi Arabia has called for the return of its nationals and has asked Pakistan to rescue and repatriate non-Afghans.
Pakistani military planes have, reportedly, been airlifting escaping fighters from Kunduz to Pakistan.
Concern mounted following the discovery of the bodies of 600 fighters at Mazar-e-Sharif last week and the massacre by Northern Alliance guards and US warplanes of prisoners staging a revolt on Sunday.
The bombing and strafing of the prison compound indicated that the US had decided to "get rid" of "Arab Afghans" in line with a recent statement of its Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld.
The Saudi Defence Minister, Prince Saud Abdel Aziz, said: "We hope that all people who are of Arab or Islamic origin . . . can return to their countries of origin. The matter is now under the supervision of the United Nations and we believe that this will mean human rights will be taken into consideration. We hope that no one will be subjected to injustice."
The Qatari Foreign Minister, Shaikh Hamad Ben Jassem Ben Jabr al-Thani, raised matter with the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, who assured him that Arab fighters who surrendered would not be "exterminated". A Kuwaiti member of parliament, Mr Ahmad al-Rabei, said that while there was no easy answer to the issue of the "Afghan Arabs", Arab states would not sit back and let others handle the problem.
"Arab Afghans" are said to number between 1,000 and 2,000, a large proportion of them being Saudi members of al-Qaeda or the entourage of Osama bin Laden. The Saudi authorities are expected to debrief returning Taliban supporters, imprison those who have committed crimes and rehabilitate those who have not.
