KABUL, May 21: More than 70,000 Afghans who were in Iran illegally have been returned in the past month, the United Nations said on Monday, as talks were under way between the neighbours over the controversial deportations.

The number of unregistered Afghans being expelled had eased off over the past week, the UN said in a statement.

The talks in Iran were to focus on how the deportations were carried out and also the treatment of deportees, it said. There have been reports of returnees being separated from their families in the drive to get them out.

Tehran has said it wanted one million Afghans repatriated by next March. The 70,000 who have been sent back started returning from April 21.

Afghanistan has asked its neighbour to halt the returns, saying it does not have the capacity to accommodate a large number of people at once.

“We are concerned about the way the deportations are taking place,” Nader Farhad, a UN refugee agency information officer in Kabul, said.

“It is important with such a large number of people, it should take place in a gradual and orderly manner.” Anger in Afghanistan about the returns has already cost the refugees minister his job. Parliament also wants Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta sacked.—AFP