By Alan Grady BBC correspondent in Kabul

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said he is confident that returning Afghans are satisfied with their new government.

On a scale of satisfaction of one to 10, I would give seven or eight to the repatriation programme

Ruud Lubbers, UNHCR head

Speaking at the end of a five-day visit to Afghanistan, Ruud Lubbers said it was essential that the Afghan Government address the security situation throughout the country if refugees are to feel safe when they return home.

Mr Lubbers used this latest trip - his second visit this year - to assess what still needs to be done to accommodate the thousands of displaced refugees streaming across Afghanistan's borders every day.

He praised the efforts of both his organisation, the UNHCR, and the Afghan Government, in repatriating the 1.6 million Afghans who have already returned.

Pashtuns 'persecuted'

He said that Afghans were proving their confidence in the new government by voting with their feet and returning home.

Lubbers wants fighting to stop

But he said that the unstable security situation in the north of the country was still an issue for some people, especially ethnic Pashtuns.

The Taleban authorities were drawn mainly from Pashtuns and there were several reports of Northern Alliance forces exacting revenge on Pashtun civilians living in the north as the Taleban fled at the end of last year.

During his visit Mr Lubbers held meetings with the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, to discuss the issue and he said he was confident that the problem would be addressed.

And referring to recent measures taken by Western governments to offer cash incentives to Afghan refugees to leave their countries and return home, Mr Lubbers said that any financial offers had to be matched by a significant amount of aid directly to Afghanistan.