By Haroon Rashid BBC correspondent in Peshawar

The United Nations investigator into random executions in Afghanistan says an inquiry commission should be set up to look into human rights violations.

Taleban and others are accused of mass killings

UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions in Afghanistan, Asma Jahangir, made the suggestion during a seminar on Afghan women in Pakistan's northern city of Peshawar, which borders Afghanistan.

She said she would hand in her recommendations to the United Nations next week.

A human rights activist, Ms Jahangir had visited Afghanistan in October 2002 on a 10-day long fact-finding mission about human rights violations.

Opposition

She said she had called for the formation of an commission of inquiry to look into the violations over the last 23 years of war in Afghanistan.

She said many opposed the setting up of the commission at this time, but she said this was the right time for such work.

"If this issue can create a rumpus why not now, instead of waiting for five years when their will be no one to guarantee peace," she said, addressing an audience including United States and United Nations officials.

She said it was now time for the opinions of human rights activists to be considered.

She also said she was not recommending strict punishments such as executions for violators, but that admissions of wrongdoing could help make amends.

Asma Jahangir visited the towns of Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif and Paghman during her tour, which included a trip to a mass grave.

She said she had gained the impression that incidents of extrajudicial and summary executions had dramatically decreased.