Schroeder wants Kabul troops to stay

Schroeder is the first western leader in Kabul for years

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said the mandate of international peacekeepers in Afghanistan should be extended beyond the original six months, but opposed their deployment outside the capital Kabul.

We have reached the limit of capability and are not in a position to expand the area of application beyond Kabul

Gerhard Schroeder

Mr Schroeder - who is visiting Kabul to support Afghanistan's interim government and the international peacekeeping efforts - said the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) was too stretched to operate beyond Kabul.

"We feel we have reached the limit of capability and are not in a position to expand the area of application beyond Kabul. His excellency the prime minister and his ministers understood this," he said after talks with the Afghan interim leader, Hamid Karzai.

Isaf's original mandate was due to end on 20 June, but the United Nations' Security Council decided last month to the extend the deployment.

Berlin is a major contributor to the British-led international force helping to ensure security in the capital. Mr Schroeder also visited some of the 1,000-plus German contingent.

Critical time

Mr Schroeder's visit to Afghanistan comes as the country is preparing for the loya jirga, or grand council, next month, which is to choose a more permanent government to replace the current interim leadership.

It is a critical time for Afghanistan's leaders, who are striving to show they can maintain peace throughout the country despite the threat of factional fighting breaking out among some regional warlords.

Schroeder (left) and Karzai called for the acceleration of financial aid to Afghanistan

Mr Karzai, who has been pressing for Isaf's expansion to other parts of Afghanistan, said it was impossible to say how long the force would stay in the country.

"The need for the presence of the [peacekeepers] should be determined by the extent of security and stability in Afghanistan and also the readiness of our own security forces."

Mr Schroeder also met the former Afghan king, Zahir Shah, and our correspondent says this is an indication of the role Western leaders hope the ex-monarch can still play in helping to unify the country.

New confidence

High-level leaders have paid visits to the well-defended Bagram airbase north of Kabul, but the chancellor was the first western leader to visit the city itself for many years.

Schroeder brought football legend Franz Beckenbauer with him

He landed in the capital on Thursday morning under tight security.

He was greeted by Mr Karzai, and a military band played a version of the German national anthem to welcome Mr Schroeder.

Mr Schroeder was also expected to visit the police academy, where Germany has been training Kabul's new police force, and a girls' school supported by German aid.

He is accompanied by Franz Beckenbauer, the former German international footballer and chairman of Bayern Munich, who will be offering the Afghans advice on rebuilding sports facilities in their battered country.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Schroeder made a stopover in the Uzbek border town of Termez.