"Ambassador (Mark) Sedwill will be faced with very important challenges in the coming time," Rasmussen told reporters after naming the current British envoy to Kabul as next representative.

"We need a reinforced interaction between our military efforts and our civilian reconstruction and development, and that will be a core function for my civilian representative in Afghanistan," he said.

The appointment came two days before a major conference on Afghanistan in London aimed at adding impetus to efforts to rebuild the strife-torn country and seize back the initiative from Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents.

Rasmussen said Sedwill, 45, would have three main tasks.

"We would very much like to improve our engagement with the international community and that will be the most important role," he said.

Secondly, he would have to help the Afghan government with "capacity building, not least of course in the transition process, in the direction of transition of the lead security responsibility to Afghan forces."

He also underlined "a strong need for an improved coordination among our provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan."

According to ISAF's Internet site, 26 civilian-military PRTs operate throughout Afghanistan -- many led by the United States, but almost a dozen run by other nations -- to encourage reconstruction and project building.

A senior US official said the new appointee would play a key role.

"All of us who have PRTs in the country need to have a better opportunity to learn from each other, to learn what works and what doesn't work, and to adapt our practices," he told reporters.

Afghan government officials have complained that nations in charge of the PRTs generally report back to their capitals, rather than to Kabul or some centralised point.

They also claim that money spent by the teams is difficult to account for, with some development projects being carried out at great expense and at cross purposes with the needs of the government.

Sedwill urged Kabul to increase its efforts.

"I'm looking to the Afghan government itself to develop more initiative and more capability across the range of the government and the development agenda," he said, alongside Rasmussen.

"Security is only really the first step," he added. "We have to help those authorities develop capability to deliver real governance, a strong and fair justice, jobs and other economic development out there, on the ground."

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband congratulated Sedwill on his appointment and said coordination "is an essential component to delivering a comprehensive strategy and ensuring success in Afghanistan."

NATO seeks endorsement of Afghan security handover
Brussels (AFP) Jan 26, 2010 - NATO will seek international endorsement Thursday for plans to boost the size of Afghanistan's army and police so they can more rapidly assume responsibility for national security.

Mired in an increasingly costly fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) wants to expand the Afghan security force to some 300,000 personnel by late 2011.

NATO officials refuse to speak of an "exit strategy", but building the Afghan force to a point where it can stand alone is the only way international troops can safely drawn down numbers.

As the force grows, ISAF wants to "transition" control of security to the Afghans district by district in line with a plan by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to assume full responsibility within five years.

"The conference cannot be just a talk show," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters Monday, ahead of the major international meeting in London aimed at adding impetus to efforts to break the back of the insurgency.

"It has to deliver results and I hope to see agreement ... on a way forward for transition to Afghan lead in security," he said. "As to when it will end, I think it's too early to say. But as to when it should begin, my answer is simple: this year."

But the transition effort will require thousands of trainers -- something NATO has struggled to find -- and money to equip the new soldiers, not to mention recruits for the endeavour, with attrition rates already high.

"NATO has to continue increasing the number of trainers and the funds devoted to supporting this increase as we go forward," chief NATO spokesman James Appathurai said last week.

Under the new targets, the Afghan army will grow to 134,000 troops in October 2010 and 171,600 by October 2011, while the police numbers would expand from some 80,000 now, to 109,000 in October, and 134,000 the following October.

But the attrition rate -- the number of troops who are killed, retire or desert -- is high, sometimes climbing to more than two percent in a single month, according to ISAF officers.

The ethnic balance is also out of kilter in the army, with the Tajiks, a minority of the population, over-represented at 34 percent, and the Pashtun majority under-represented at 42 percent.

Above all, standards are quite low, with recruits graduating based often on attendance rather than their skills, experts say, and lacking expertise on complicated equipment, not to mention a dearth of any leadership base.

"Without leaders the Afghan security force will not be able to progress," NATO's top military officer, US Admiral James Stavridis, wrote to AFP in answer to questions about the challenges.

"Leadership is the key to many of the challenges that (it) faces; literacy, retention, attrition, corruption and performance.

"We are addressing each of these through a leadership development programme and continuous mentoring and liaison teams in the field. Pay problems have been minimized through an electronic pay programme and we're currently looking into a cellular banking option," he said.

The whole process costs vast sums of money which the Afghan economy cannot generate. Karzai, leader of one of the world's poorest nations, warned last month that the military would need outside financial help for 15 to 20 years.

Despite that, Stavridis sees light at the end of NATO's tunnel.

"The government of Afghanistan has suggested that it could have the lead for security operations across the country within five years, which is achievable," he said.

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