Karzai says Afghanistan may institute conscription

MUNICH, Germany (AP) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said yesterday he is looking at instituting conscription to build an army big enough to provide security without international help.

Karzai told a conference of the world's top defence officials in Munich that he wants to build and train an army and police force of 300,000 by 2012 that will be able to provide security for Afghanistan by 2015 without international help.

Within five years, "Afghanistan should be able to provide security for its people so we are no longer a burden on the shoulders of the international community", he said.

Last week, however, Afghanistan's defence minister told reporters the army had no shortage of recruits and that there was no need to force people to serve. Gen Abdul Rahim Wardak said the government could not implement conscription "in the current Afghan situation", but left open whether it could be instituted in the future.

Last month, Afghanistan's international partners agreed to expand the Afghan National Army from the current figure of about 97,000 to 171,600 by the end of next year. The Afghan National Police will be boosted from about 94,000 today to 134,000.

The Afghans had been lobbying for expanding the security force to 240,000 soldiers and 160,000 police within five years, but the plan was set for the time being because of the expense, lack of training camps and problems training and equipping such a large force.

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