NATO, which took command of the 5,300-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), agreed Monday "in principle" to the expansion of the ISAF mission beyond Kabul. It also agreed that Germany would lead a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in the northern town of Kunduz, although it now needs UN approval for the moves.

"We're very concerned about the decision that it should look like an expansion of the PRTs, which is very inadequate response to a very complex security situation in Afghanistan," said Paul Barker, country director for the CARE international humanitarian agency.

PRTs are a US coalition-led programme of small civil-military groups involved in reconstruction which are intended to extend the reach of President Hamid Karzai's government to the provinces, which largely remain under the control of warlords and commanders with nominal allegiance to Kabul.

While CARE and other aid organisations have repeatedly called for expansion of ISAF beyond Kabul, Barker said the PRTs would be better employed focusing on security matters such as training the new national army and police rather than getting involved in reconstruction.

"They haven't done a single reconstruction project in an area NGOs couldn't do it," he told AFP.

His views were echoed by Barbara Stapleton of the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), an umbrella organisation representing Kabul-based non-governmental organisations.

"If the focus is on PRTs, I can't see how they will bring any change to the security situation," she told AFP.

"It's an inadequate response to the security situation," she said. "It's too little, too late."

However, the Afghan government welcomed NATO's decision.

"It's good news for Afghanistan and for the Afghans," foreign ministry spokesman Omar Samad told AFP.

About 300 people have died in south and southeast Afghanistan over the past two months as suspected Taliban target Afghan and US troops, as well as aid workers.

"Increasing insecurity has forced agencies to slow down or scale back or even close down operations, which is having an adverse effect on redevelopment," Stapleton said.

Both said the decision for German peacekeepers to take over Kunduz PRT, currently run by US coalition troops, would have little impact on Afghan security as the northern town is "considered a benign area."

"They're to put PRTs in the safest provinces in Afghanistan with the greatest success," Barker said.

With aid workers coming under regular attack while travelling between projects, Stapleton said there was an urgent need to improve security along the roads to allow aid workers to do their job.

"We are calling urgently for the roads to be made secure so that we can access communities in need," she said.

ISAF has been deployed in Kabul since December 2001. It was set up weeks after the defeat of the hardline Taliban regime to safeguard the capital.

The United Nations and aid organisations have repeatedly called for the 5,300-strong force to be expanded to the provinces, which have been caught in the struggles between rival warlords and a resurgence by Taliban fighters.

WAR.WIRE