UN closes Afghan refugee centre

By Martin Patience
BBC News, Kabul

Tens of thousands of refugees have passed through the camp

The UN has closed its repatriation centre in eastern Afghanistan because of unrest in the city of Jalalabad.

The temporary closure comes as aid agencies say it is becoming more difficult to operate in parts of the country as security worsens.

More than 60,000 Afghan refugees from neighbouring Pakistan have passed through the UN centre this year.

The UN says it decided to close the centre after protests closed the main road from Kabul to the Pakistan border.

In one demonstration, locals claimed that US forces had killed three civilians in a military operation.

The other protest, Jalalabad, was connected to the killing of a local MP's father and the kidnapping of seven members of his family.

Local disputes

The UN High Commission for Refugees is keen to stress that the closure is only a temporary measure.

Deteriorating security is partly because of the Taleban insurgency.

But as the incident in Jalalabad demonstrates, the violence is often rooted in local disputes.

Many Afghans believe that the government in Kabul is weak and has failed to impose law and order in much of the country.