Tighten Afghan embargo says rights group

An international human rights group has called for a comprehensive arms embargo against all warring parties in Afghanistan.

In a new report the American-based group, Human Rights Watch, criticises Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for ignoring current UN sanctions against the Taleban authorities, and accuses Russia and Iran of providing military support to the forces of the anti-Taleban Northern Alliance.

The group says the current embargo must be better enforced, and adds that Pakistan's continued support of the Taleban has allowed grave violations against Afghan civilians to continue.

Human Rights Watch describes the UN sanctions as too strongly influenced by the interest of the United States to secure the handover of the exiled Saudi billionaire Osama Bin-Laden, who is suspected of orchestrating the bombing in 1998 of two American embassies in Africa.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service