All United Nations operations in the Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan have been temporarily suspended, including voter registration, and movement within the city by national and international staff has been limited following a roadside bomb attack against a UN convoy.

The United Nations expects up to 1 million Afghan refugees to be repatriated from host countries Iran and Pakistan and up to 100,000 internally displaced people to return to their southern and western Afghanistan homes this year, UN High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers said.

Hailing the return of more than 3 million Afghans to their homeland over the past two years, the United Nations refugee chief warned today that a rapid expansion of the international security force and the country's own police is vital for the repatriation of some 3 million more who fled decades of conflict.