February 28, 2003	Friday	Zul Hijjah 26, 1423

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WASHINGTON, Feb 27: Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the United States on Wednesday to help him rebuild an Afghan national army instead of sending more international troops for maintaining peace and security in his war-ravaged country.

In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, the Afghan president also asked for help to subsidize his efforts to pay more than 100,000 irregular militiamen spread across Afghanistan.

Mr Karzai, who came to power in December 2001 after US forces captured Kabul, arrived in Washington on Tuesday night after attending an international conference in Tokyo on Afghan security.