UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Wednesday called on the Afghan government to reinforce human rights and crack down on corruption as it renewed the mandate of the international coalition battling the Taliban. The regular 12 month extension to the International Security Assistance Force mandate came as the government fended off allegations in a UN report that detainees at some Afghan prisons are "systematically" tortured. A council resolution stressed the need for "further progress" to strengthen judicial institutions "in the reconstruction and reform of the prison sector, and the rule of law and respect for human rights." The UN body called for "further efforts by the Afghan government to fight corruption, promote transparency and increase its accountability" in line with commitments already made to the international community. The US and other Western nations leading the anti-Taliban force in Afghanistan have sought to reinforce support for President Hamid Karzai's government as they start a military withdrawal. A series of high profile attacks, accusations of torture in prisons made in a UN report released this week and widespread corruption allegations have all highlighted international difficulties in Afghanistan. Germany, which has taken a lead role in supporting Afghanistan, welcomed the renewal of the mandate to help the govt improve security. "The council's mandate puts particular emphasis on strengthening Afghanistan's own national security forces - so that Afghanistan will, step by step, guarantee its own security," said Germany's UN ambassador Peter Wittig. Meanwhile, the Taliban welcomed Wednesday a UN report detailing systematic torture in some Afghan detention centres, but said the world body had underestimated the problem and should have acted sooner. Ill-treatment and lack of respect for due process have long helped foster mistrust in the Western-backed government and had fuelled the 10-year Taliban insurgency, the United Nations report published on Monday said. On their website, the Taliban said in response: "For a long time now torture has been rife in the different detention facilities of the Kabul regime while holding or interrogating political prisoners. "It is worthy of praise that the United Nations showed its concern on this subject and published a report about it, but this step should have been taken a long time ago." The Islamists added: "This kind of persecution has been taking place in the secret prisons of the occupying forces inside our country and also in the Ministry of Interior and intelligence centres of the Kabul regime." The Afghan government has rejected the UN allegations but promised to probe any claims of abuse and implement reforms accordingly. The Taliban, who were ousted from power in 2001 in a US-led invasion and are now waging an insurgency that has killed civilians and foreign soldiers, said prisoners were burned alive and had dogs set on them to extract confessions. Calling for an investigation, they added on the website that "the estimates mentioned in their report is far less than the actual number (of cases of torture)". The UN said that more than a third of 117 detainees interviewed after being held by police for alleged insurgent activity "experienced treatment that amounted to torture or to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment".