Raggle-taggle army march to aid Taliban

Setback for coalition » Camped on Pakistan's border, thousands of would-be martyrs are coming to defend Islam

Thousands of armed Pakistani tribesmen were camping out on the Afghan border last night hoping to join the Taliban's "holy war" on the US and allied forces.

The tribesmen will attempt to cross the border into Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province today, armed with weapons ranging from rifles and rocket launchers to axes and swords. Most of them come from villages inside Pakistan's North West Frontier province, a region with strong cultural ties to Afghanistan. They are responding to Islamic militants who have called for volunteers.

So far the Pakistani authorities have blocked their way, but the border guards acknowledge they cannot control the hundreds of mountain passes that hundreds of the would-be fighters have already taken. Shah Wazir a 70-year-old a retired Pakistani army officer is hoping to use a French rifle from the 1920s in the conflict. "I am an old man. I consider myself lucky to go – and to face the death of a martyr," he said.

Hussain Khan, a 19-year-old carpenter is leaving his fiancé behind to enter Afghanistan. He said: "Whether I come back alive or dead, I'll be fortunate because I am fighting in the cause of Islam."

Whether the Taliban would welcome a legions of untrained fighters is another matter. Reports suggest that, even though they already count many foreigners among their numbers, particularly Pakistanis and Arabs, the Taliban troops are showing little enthusiasm.

The raggle-taggle army has only heightened the concerns of the Pakistani authorities who fear that any funerals resulting from military action could become a rallying point for Taliban supporters. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is already trying to stop popular opposition to the US raids from developing into wider unrest, particularly in the border areas.

The president repeated his concerns yesterday that the bombing should not continue into Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, which begins on or about 15 November.

"There is concern not only in the Islamic world but the entire world, in the West and in the United States, at all the civilian casualties and the miseries that the civilians are being put through in Afghanistan," he said.

The call for volunteers was made by Sufi Mohammed, an outspoken Muslim cleric and head of Tehreek Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammadi, a group which is campaigning for Sharia law in the region.

Pakistan's Interior Minister, Moinuddin Haider, said last week that the government would arrest any armed person trying to get into Afghanistan, but acknowledged that the entire 2,500km (1,562-mile) border could not be monitored.

Pakistani police officials, reported yesterday that pro-Taliban groups had blocked the Karakoram Highway, part of the historic Silk Road, with boulders and land mines for a second day. The road is a key link between Pakistan and China.

Hundreds of armed tribesmen have joined the blockade. "The road is still closed and police will not dare engage them here," said a resident of Besham, halfway between Islamabad and the northern town of Gilgit.