Britain 'ready to relinquish Afghan lead'

International troops are welcomed in Afghanistan

The UK would welcome Turkey taking over the leading role in the Afghanistan peace-keeping force, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said.

There are discussions taking place but there has been no formal announcement by Turkey

Jack Straw

Currently Britain has around 1,700 troops of the total 3,500 taking part in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which has been helping maintain the peace in Afghanistan since Christmas.

Mr Straw said after talks with Turkey's premier Bulent Ecevit on Tuesday: "We covered the possibility of Turkey taking over lead role in ISAF.

"I said to him ... that we would welcome Turkey assuming this role and we stood ready to assist Turkey both in the preparation for that and also if they do take it on, we would still have quite a number of troops in Afghanistan, so we would be involved in support.

"There are discussions taking place but there has been no formal announcement by Turkey."

Mr Ecevit had talks with Mr Straw

Also on the agenda were the possible next stage in the "war against terrorism" and the tense situation in the Middle East.

Turkey has said it is against military action by the US against neighbouring Iraq and has expressed concerns about President Bush's comments that Iraq was part of an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea.

The Foreign Office said the UK's position was that military action should be taken "where the evidence points towards that end and where there is no alternative but to follow the military path".

Weapons inspections?

A senior official said: "Overwhelmingly, the future of Iraq lies in Saddam Hussein's hands.

"He could tomorrow allow weapons inspectors back in and start to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions and in doing so he would have secured a good future for the people of Iraq who he claims to represent."

Mr Straw arrived in Istanbul to attend the joint summit of the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The two days of talks were the idea of Turkey, which is also a Nato member, and were aimed at improving relations between the West and predominantly Muslim countries in the wake of the 11 September attacks.