Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed yesterday for NATO to speed up a planned expansion of its peacekeeping force in his country to protect against terrorists, private armies and narcotics gangs before September's key elections.
"Please hurry," Karzai urged a NATO summit.
"Come sooner than September and provide the Afghan men and women with a chance to vote freely without fear, without coercion," he said.
On Monday, the alliance decided to expand its peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan from 6,500 to 10,000 over the election period, although officials clarified yesterday that about 1,300 of those troops will be held in reserve outside the country for emergency use.
The expanded NATO forces should allow the separate, 20,000-strong US-led force to intensify its focus on pursuing insurgents from the old Taliban regime and its al-Qaeda allies in the troubled south and east, but it has been criticized as insufficient.
Karzai thanked the 26 NATO leaders for expanding the force, then made a forceful plea for an accelerated deployment, reminding the summit of recent deadly attacks on officials carrying out voter registration and on registered voters.
"The Afghan people have trust in the security that you are going to provide for us, but the Afghan people need that security today and not tomorrow," he said.
"The reason we need this is that we have three challenges still in our country. First the challenge of terrorism, as you are all aware, second is the challenge of private militias ... third is the challenge of narcotics," he said.
tear gas
Outside the summit, police fired tear gas into a group of 1,000 anti-NATO protesters after some of the demonstrators threw rocks at officers.
About 23,000 police and soldiers guarded the summit, closing several streets around the summit site and leaders' hotels.
Monday's summit agreement on Afghanistan allows the alliance forces to set up permanent peacekeeping teams in four more northern cities besides the temporary increase for the elections.
But the agreement was described as inadequate by human-rights campaigners.
"It's a disgrace," said Jon Sifton, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. "NATO officials should be ashamed ... If these elections fail to occur, or occur but are not free and fair, Afghans can blame NATO."
He said Afghanistan had been neglected while Western leaders were focused on Iraq. NATO leaders on Monday agreed to help train the armed forces of Iraq after the US surprised allies by handing over sovereignty to the Iraqi government two days ahead of schedule.
Under current NATO plans, British troops supported by contingents from Norway, Romania, Denmark, Sweden and Finland will set up a regional hub in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Germany will run a team in Faizabad, the Netherlands in Baghlan and more British and Nordic troops will be based in Maimana. Officials said the teams should be up and running under NATO command within the next few weeks.
Besides those permanent bases, NATO will temporarily increase its presence by about 1,500 troops for up to eight weeks around the elections, with another 1,300 in reserve. The alliance is also seeking to muster more troops to expand into a western sector centered on the city of Herat.
EXPLOSION
Police were investigating a small explosion that injured three cleaners on a plane on the ground at Istanbul airport.
The booby-trapped package exploded yesterday aboard a Turkish Airlines plane after passengers had disembarked, an airline spokeswoman said.
She said the fingers of the cleaner who opened the package were torn off, while two other cleaners suffered minor injuries.
The airplane had arrived in Istanbul from the western Turkish city of Izmir, she said.
Police said the blast was caused by 2g of plastic explosive hidden inside a wallet.
The airport appeared to be operating normally after the blast.
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