ISLAMABAD, Nov 24 (AFP) - Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka held "warm" talks here on Saturday with a senior UN official on the refugee crisis in Afghanistan and the hazards facing those wanting to return, a Japanese official said. 
	
	
 The talks focused on the need to rehabilitate Afghanistan to pave the way for the safe return of the estimated four million Afghan refugees living in neighbouring countries, foreign ministry spokesman Daisuke Matsunaga said. 
	
	
 He told a news conference that Filippo Grandi, regional emergency coordinator for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), had thanked Japan for its contribution to international efforts to aid the refugees. 
	
	
 "The talks were very warm," Matsunaga said at the end of the meeting. 
	
	
 He added that Grandi had outlined to Tanka a four-pronged approach to the crisis -- improving conditions in camps, expanding the UNHCR's ability to deal with any further refugees, assisting non-governmental organisations involved in dealing with the crisis, and encouraging refugees to return to their homes. 
	
	
 Returning refugees, however, faced minefields, a lack of educational facilities and ruined irrigation systems. 
	
	
 These problems would have to be dealt with under international plans to rebuild Afghanistan, which is estimated may cost 10 billion dollars and may take, Grandi told Tanka, three to four years to achieve. 
	
	
 In the meantime, however, the UNHCR, through its Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (OCHA), was trying to provide tents, clothing and heaters to returning refugees as well as to displaced people within the country wanting to return to their towns and villages. 
	
	
 Tanka, who arrived in Pakistan on Friday for talks on the reconstruction of Afghanistan and to reward Islamabad for its role in the war against terrorism, was due to meet Pakistani counterpart Abdul Sattar later Saturday and President Pervez Musharraf on Monday. 
	
	
 Japan has taken a leading role in the international drive to rebuild Afghanistan and in January is to host a meeting of finance and foreign ministers from more than 22 countries to build a platform for commitments to rebuild a country shattered by more than two decades of war. 
	
	
 It has offered financial support to Pakistan, including the rescheduling of around 550 million dollars in debt and the provision of about 40 million dollars in emergency budgetary and refugee assistance. 
	
	
 Since the terrorist strikes in the United States, more than 135,000 refugees have crossed into Pakistan, but the United Nations says the true figure is much higher. 
	
	
 Even before September 11, Pakistan was playing host to an estimated 2.5 million refugees who had fled Afghanistan through 22 years of war and ethnic bloodshed.