Deadlock over Afghan refugees

The head of the United Nations Refugee Agency in Pakistan says it has reached a log-jam in its efforts to re-open the border to Afghan refugees.

The UNHCR representative Hasim Utkan said he could not imagine Pakistan, which already has one-million Afghan refugees, letting in any more in the near future.

Last week Pakistan announced it was closing the border to refugees, who've been flooding into Pakistan to escape fighting and drought. The BBC correspondent in Islamabad says the UNHCR's bargaining position was weakened by the failure of its latest appeal to attract international aid. International aid agencies are also assessing the health, nutritional and shelter needs of up to ten thousand Afghan refugees on the border with Tajikistan.

With winter setting in, the agencies say health problems among the refugees are increasing.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service