June 4, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1424

KABUL, June 3: Afghan President Hamid Karzai leaves for an official visit to Britain on Wednesday to seek economic aid and a greater role for its military in rebuilding the war-ravaged country, officials said on Tuesday.

Accompanied by several cabinet ministers, Karzai is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair, the foreign and home secretaries, the queen and parliamentarians, Karzai’s chief of staff said.

“He will talk about the expansion of economic aid, the security situation of Afghanistan and the region,” Sayed Tayeb Jawad told reporters.

“Since England is among the countries dealing with the PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Teams), the issue of the expansion of the PRTs will be also discussed.”

The British, who led the International Security Assistance Force for Kabul (ISAF) until last June, recently started taking part in PRT programmes, or civil reconstruction projects, in Afghanistan.

The move, initiated by the US military early this year, has come under criticism from many non-governmental agencies who argue that it puts them at risk of attack by rebels who may take them for US-led coalition troops in Afghanistan.

Officials complain that the amount is insufficient and say that the pace of reconstruction has been slow compared to what some western leaders, including Mr Blair, had promised before the fall of the Taliban.

Mr Karzai is also expected to pay official visits to Iran, Jordan, Switzerland and possibly Poland this month.—Reuters