ISTANBUL, June 29: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday made an urgent appeal for immediate deployment of more Nato troops in his country to ensure security for planned September elections.

"Come sooner than September," Mr Karzai told leaders of the 26-nation alliance in Istanbul. Nato has agreed to beef up forces in Afghanistan for elections but the Afghan president said sending troops in the autumn would be too late.

"The Afghan people need that security today - and not tomorrow," he stressed. Polling would go ahead as planned, he added. "The Afghan people are showing their enthusiasm despite the terrorist attacks against them," Mr Karzai said.

Nato leaders agreed to create four additional Provincial Reconstruction Teams in northern Afghanistan. The new PRTs will be in Mazar-i-Sharif, Meymana, Feyzabad and Baghlan, said Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in a separate statement.