BritainsHeroes.co.uk

www.britainsheros.co.uk

Targets Afghan President Karzai must meet are set by PM

Gordon Brown has said Afghanistan's president will be set targets by the international community for training Afghan forces and tackling corruption.

Mr Brown said Hamid Karzai would be expected to give commitments at a conference in London on 28 January.

The prime minister confirmed the international conference plans at the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad.

Mr Karzai will face targets of ensuring 50,000 troops for training and barring corrupt provincial governors, he said.

Mr Brown made the announcement alongside United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who will be at the conference.

The pair have been discussing strategy for Afghanistan at the summit.

'Political push'

They will be joined in London by Mr Karzai, who was recently installed for a second term as president, and representatives of the 43 nations making up Nato's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Mr Brown also made it clear that international troop levels would rise in the short term.

US President Barack Obama is expected to make an announcement on the subject next week.

The prime minister said: "What we need is a political push to match the military push we're now agreeing to.

"And that means that President Karzai has got to accept that there will be milestones by which he's going to be judged and he's got to accept that there will be benchmarks which the international community will set."

He said the targets would enable control to be handed over to Afghan authorities and pave the way for British troops to return home.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says Mr Brown has never been blunter in dictating terms to Mr Karzai.