Agence France Presse

Kabul, February 7

President Hamid Karzai said today that Afghanistan would appreciate any expansion of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in the country.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was formed shortly after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 but so far has limited its activities mainly to providing security in Kabul.

"The expansion of the ISAF, or the expansion of the operation that NATO has now taken over, especially in the PRTS is very, very important for the improvement of reconstruction activity of Afghanistan and also for better security," Karzai told reporters. "So we value whatever decision they take in this regard."