Musharraf warns of threat in Afghanistan

Afghanistan could descend into anarchic warlordism unless drastic measures, including far more aggressive use of troops, were taken to extend the authority of the central leadership outside Kabul, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan warned yesterday.

"Things are not going as well as we had expected," he said. "There is a vacuum in the countryside that must be filled - if not, it will be filled by forces that are against peace."

After meeting Tony Blair and senior officials in London, General Musharraf said he wanted to see a force of between 40,000 and 50,000 troops in Afghanistan, a big increase on the present 15,000-strong peace-keeping contingent. Those troops, General Musharraf said, should be sufficient to take "between 11 and 15 regional centres" by force, and leave about 2,500 men in place in each centre.

He said the use of force was the only way to ensure that the writ of the central authority ran across the country, where local fiefdoms were becoming more entrenched by the week. He suggested that the additional troops could come from the United States, or from extended Nato participation.

Downing Street confirmed that Afghanistan was discussed when Mr Blair met General Musharraf for lunch on Tuesday. But officials said only that discussions would continue, a clear sign that no agreement was reached. The Pakistani leader, who goes on to meet President George Bush at Camp David, is likely to receive a similar response from Washington. Troop capacities have been considerably stretched by the war in Iraq and its aftermath.

The volatility in Afghanistan was also raised in a letter sent by more than 80 aid organisations to the United Nations on the eve of a Security Council meeting to discuss events in the country. The position was so bad, they said, that people had started to reminisce about the "better days" under the ousted Taliban regime.

The aid organisations want Nato, which takes over in August, to have a much broader mandate than the peace- keeping force.