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BBC News
 At
least 110 Afghan refugees sheltering in camps have died because
of heavy snowfall and extreme cold.
Most of those who died in the camps in the western city of Herat
were children, women and elderly people.
The United
Nations says the victims died in a single night as temperatures
plummeted to -25C.
A UN emergency
appeal for funds to help an estimated 80,000 refugees who have
fled to Herat has been largely ignored.
Shortage
Conditions
at the camps are hampered because of a shortage of blankets, quilts
and tents - the refugees only have plastic sheets to keep them
warm.
"The
shelter shortage is so severe that there are still some 5,000
families sharing 1,700 one-family tents," the UN office in
Afghanistan said.
"Lack
of proper shelter, blankets and fuel can be assumed to have contributed
to the high date rate in the camps," it said.
Some 300 to
500 displaced Afghans have been arriving at the Herat camps everyday,
driven by a drought affecting much of Afghanistan, hunger or the
war.
"It is
now feared that displacement will continue into various areas
of the country and across international borders for at least the
next several months," the UN said.
The UN Co-ordinator
for Afghanistan, Eric de Mul, had issued an appeal for $3.5m to
house and clothe the refugees but only $200,000 has been pledged
so far.
Pakistan
visit
The BBC's
Kabul correspondent, Kate Clark, says however that the snowfall
has generally been welcomed in the country.
She says it
acts as a water reservoir and provides the best insurance against
drought.
The heavy
snowfall has also led to the postponement of a visit to Kabul
by Pakistan Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider.
It would have
been the highest level visit by a Pakistani leader since the military
coup in Pakistan in 1999.
Mr Haider
was due to discuss the UN sanctions imposed on Afghanistan earlier
this month, the influx of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and the
Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden.
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