Voluntary Afghan refugee repatriation paramount: U.N.

KABUL (Reuters) - Countries playing host to Afghan refugees should only send them home if they want to go, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said on Wednesday, as insecurity and insufficient sources hampered the reintegration of returnees.

Thirty-thousand returnees are living in tents in the east unable to go home because of fighting with the Taliban or shortages of land, shelter and basic services, the agency and the government say.

Afghanistan held talks on its refugees with officials from neighbors Pakistan and Iran, the U.N. refugee agency and several other countries on Wednesday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres later said everyone had agreed Afghanistan faced problems because of insecurity and "limited absorption capacity."

"In these circumstances it is paramount, the respect for the principle of voluntary repatriation in safety and dignity," Guterres told a news conference.

Since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, 5.6 million Afghans have gone home, most from Pakistan and Iran. Many were deported, particularly from Iran, and often to protests by the United Nations and aid agencies.

This year, more than 100,000 Afghans, many of them illegal workers, were deported from Iran. About 250,000 were deported in 2007.

There are 2 million Afghans in Pakistan and 1 million in Iran. About 1 million unregistered Afghans are also in Iran, the UNHCR says.

Guterres said a commitment from Pakistan and Iran to maintain the "voluntary character of asylum" had to apply worldwide.

Problems in Afghanistan had been compounded by a food crisis and drought, and some desperate families had gone back to Iran and Pakistan, the U.N. agency said.

There are also tens of thousands of internally displaced Afghans who have fled fighting, mostly in the south.

(Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Jerry Norton)