US bows to pressure to expand peace-keeping beyond Kabul

In a sweeping policy shift, America says it now backs an expansion of the international peace-keeping force in Afghanistan to help to stabilise the country and cement the rule of President Hamid Karzai.

Plans revealed in Washington and London envisage several ways of beefing up Isaf, the International Security Assistance Force. They include an increase in its number, the stationing of peace-keepers in centres outside Kabul, such as Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat, or the creation of a mobile force of peace-keepers, based in the capital but capable of being deployed at short notice.

The change of heart at the Pentagon will be warmly welcomed by Mr Karzai and by US allies, who have been reluctant to step up their contributions to the force without a firmer commitment from Washington. In the meantime, large areas of Afghanistan have been reverting to the control of feuding warlords.

The first hints of the new policy came this week, when General Tommy Franks, head of US Central Command in charge of the Afghan campaign, spoke of the "desirability" of expanding Isaf. He was joined by Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defence, who had previously argued the priority was to help to train a new Afghan national army to assert the government's control over the country.

The widespread anarchy, and continuing American military activities against the remnants of al-Qa'ida and the Taliban, have seriously impeded reconstruction and slowed the flow of contributions from donors. The rebuilding in Afghanistan has thus been proceeding far more slowly than in Kosovo.

The creation of an Afghan army has been lagging, with estimates that its total strength may not exceed 3,000 to 4,000 by the end of this year. In the meantime, no successor has been found to take over the leadership of Isaf from Turkey at the end of the year.

The problems have not been lost on the Pentagon, which is instinctively averse to "nation building" but realises that, without a more powerful Isaf, withdrawing American troops from the country will be hard.

The plans being discussed do not envisage any American presence in the peace-keeping force. But Washington will help with logistics and intelligence, and is promising its aid in evacuating the force if it runs into trouble.

The shift in policy will also enhance the Bush administration's credibility when it pledges to help with rebuilding Iraq in the event of a military campaign to unseat President Saddam Hussein. Doubts persist that Mr Bush is any more ready to commit America for the long haul in Iraq than he has been in Afghanistan.