UN urged to act over Afghanistan

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Human Rights Watch has urged the United Nations to address the situation in Afghanistan where more than 3,000 people have died in fighting this year.

At least 1,000 civilians were killed in the country's south alone, HRW said in a letter to a Security Council fact-finding team.

Fighting and drought had displaced 80,000 people in the region, it said.

The New York-based group also said urgent action was needed to address corruption and abuses by warlords.

It blames not only the Taleban-led insurgents for the violence, but also regional warlords - some of them operating with the blessing of the Afghan government - and Nato-led forces.

HRW says that many gains made by women since the fall of the Taleban have been reversed and that teachers, schools and students had been attacked by insurgents.

It also complained of corruption, illegal land grabs, ethnic violence and the intimidation of journalists.

The UN team is due in Kabul on Saturday.