U.N. shuts down Afghan refugee office

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 14 (UPI) -- The United Nations refugee organization has suspended return of Afghans from Pakistan because of security problems.

Nilab Mobarez, a spokesman for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told reporters Monday in Kabul that the repatriation center in Jalalabad has been shut down, although he hopes it will reopen soon. He said the problem is violence in the eastern province of Nangarhar in Afghanistan.

About 2 million registered Afghan refugees are living in Pakistan and 1 million in Iran. Many fled Afghanistan soon after the 1979 Soviet invasion and have been living elsewhere for almost 30 years.

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees reports the agency expects between 150,000 and 200,000 Afghans to be repatriated from Pakistan this year, similar to the numbers who returned in 2005 and 2006.