LONDON: Afghanistan will need international support for up to

15 years, President Hamid Karzai warned today, before a 70-nation conference on its future which will mull a plan to buy off Taliban fighters.

Karzai, re-elected in November after corruption-riddled polls, wants to shore up

foreign backing for his troubled presidency but NATO countries led by the US face rising pressure at home to bring troops home as soon as possible.

Hundreds of protesters are expected to target the high-profile conference in London, being attended by Karzai, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Some 110,000 international troops are in Afghanistan and their numbers are set to rise, but Karzai said in an interview with BBC radio broadcast today that his country would need international help for years to come.

“With regard to training and equipping the Afghan security forces, five to 10 years will be enough,” Karzai said.

“With regard to sustaining them until Afghanistan is financially able to provide for our forces, the time will be extended to 10 to 15 years.” Meanwhile Brown, his co-host at the conference, stressed the gradual handover of control in some provinces to Afghan troops — which could allow a reduction of foreign troops.

“Our strategy is to help the Afghan people to be strong enough so that their own security is their responsibility and not the responsibility of 43 countries,” he said.

British officials hope the gradual handover of some provinces in Afghanistan can begin within 12 to 36 months. Karzai also has been lobbying for support for a 500-million-dollar reintegration programme to offer Taliban who are not Al-Qaeda jobs if they stop fighting. The conference will likely see fresh announcements on the initiative.

The plan has already gained support from countries including the US, Britain and Germany. But the Taliban has publicly rebuffed negotiations and reiterated in an emailed statement Wednesday a demand for “invading forces” — its term for foreign troops — to withdraw as a condition for any talks.

“The London conference is in fact aimed at extending the invasion of Afghanistan by occupying forces,” it said, dismissing the meeting as “just a waste of time”. The talks could also see announcements on increasing the number of Afghan troops.

“I want a decision that Afghan forces will be increased substantially,” Brown told BBC radio.

“I want a decision that in 2010 they will rise to 200,000 including the police,

in 2011 to 300,000, so that Afghans can gradually take more control of the security of their own country.”

The Afghanistan war has been raging for more than eight years and last year was the bloodiest yet for international troops in Afghanistan.