Blair: No more peace troops

Tony Blair today publicly rebuffed a strong plea from Afghanistan's leader Hamid Karzai for up to 70,000 extra troops to keep the peace.

The disagreement surfaced, embarrassingly, at a joint press conference at Downing Street intended to salute Mr Karzai's arrival in Britain.

The Afghan leader, standing alongside the Prime Minister, said the one repeated "demand" he was hearing from his people was for the International Security Assistance Force to be sent out to towns and villages wherever they were needed instead of being confined, as now, to Kabul.

Mr Karzai's appeal was given additional force by reports of renewed faction fighting in the town of Gardez, south of the capital, with up to 40 killed.

Mr Blair, who at first avoided answering the question, eventually said that it has always been clear that British troops would lead the force "for a time-limited period". Further British military involvement, he said, would be limited to logistical support "for the new force taking over from us".

The Prime Minister conspicuously failed to endorse even the principle of sending the peacekeepers out across the country. His caution appeared to reflect the warnings from senior officers that the armed forces are already severely stretched.

Ministers are also wary of anything that would look like an openended commitment.

The rebuff, though politely phrased, threatened to sour a visit carefully designed to demonstrate what Mr Blair called Britain's longterm commitment to Afghanistan's future. Mr Karzai was accorded the rare honour of addressing the full Cabinet. His speech won applause.

The issue of troops is complicated by the fact that the Government is still to sew up a deal over who should take over when the British contingent of up to 5,000 troops departs. The handover was originally expected around March but Whitehall was today warning that it could well be later than that. Both Turkey and Germany, two of the candidates to take command of ISAF, have encountered problems although British sources said neither had been ruled out.

Mr Karzai originally made his request for extra troops to the United Nations yesterday. The US was quick to signal that it is not ready to put in a peacekeeping force. As a consolation prize, the Ministry of Defence is expected to offer further help in training an Afghan army and police force.

? Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon said today he is sorry his troops did not "liquidate" Yasser Arafat 20 years ago when the Palestinian leader was under siege in Beirut. But he insisted he would deal with Mr Arafat now if Palestinian terror attacks stopped.