UN Afghanistan head warns refugees against returning

BERLIN, Mar 14 (Reuters) The situation in Afghanistan is so dire that it would be better for refugees living abroad not to return home, the head of the United Nations' mission in the country was quoted as saying today.

''The economic situation of many home-comers is terrible. They find their homes either destroyed or given to someone else,'' Tom Koenigs said in an interview with the Berlin-based Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.

''Every extra person who comes here will only increase the poverty,'' the paper quoted him as saying in a preview of its tomorrow's edition. ''It's quickly clear to those who know the situation: This country is not in a position to take people in.'' U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan and toppled its Taliban regime in late 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The United Nations last year said up to one million of some three million refugees living outside Afghanistan could return by the end of 2006. Officials estimate that more than 3.5 million refugees had returned since the Taliban overthrow.

Fears over security in the country have increased in recent months as Taliban insurgents step up attacks in a bid to drive out foreign forces and defeat President Hamid Karzai.

''The economic opportunities for someone returning to Afghanistan are exactly zero,'' Koenigs told Der Tagesspiegel. ''Some crisis nations in Africa are extremely well developed by comparison.'' Reuters PG DB2149