The United Nations refugee agency says it is increasingly concerned about the severe drought affecting Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

A UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said the agency was having to scale back its programme to repatriate Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan to drought-stricken provinces in southern Afghanistan where local people are relying on emergency food aid.

He said the UNHCR was also worried about the effects of the drought on the estimated 2.6 million Afghan refugees still living in Pakistan and Iran. Wheat crops have failed in Afghanistan and more than half of the livestock in the south have died.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service