The so-called Berlin Declaration released at the end of a two-day conference on Afghanistan's post-war reconstruction said the alliance would establish five PRTs this summer and an unspecified number later.

It also expressed the readiness of NATO and the US-led coalition in Afghanistan to "assist in securing the conduct of elections" due in September.

The declaration "noted with satisfaction the progress made by Afghans and the international community in the fight against remnants of international terrorism, and the common resolve to defeat terrorists who undermine security and reconstruction efforts."

PRTs are mixed groups of lightly-armed military and development personnel which have been helping deliver aid in certain remote provinces not covered by the NATO-led security force (ISAF), which is limited mainly to Kabul.

There are currently 11 mainly US-led PRTs of varying sizes, notably in the south. Afghan officials have already said there are plans to almost double this number by the end of the year.

Britain meanwhile said it would set up another PRT in cooperation with Finland, Sweden and Norway in northern Afghanistan. A British team is already deployed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

"We have now pledged to set up a second PRT at Maimana and we are planning to set that up with a number of the Nordics who have agreed to work with us on that," said Mike O'Brien, minister of state at the British foreign office.

The Berlin Declaration said NATO had agreed to "expand ISAF's mission by establishing five additional PRTs by summer 2004" but it was not clear whether this would mean the deployment of additional NATO troops in Afghanistan or simply the placing of existing teams under the alliance's command.

The announcement fell well short of what many analysts and aid workers argue is necessary to promote development and democracy in a country devastated by more than 20 years of war.

"I just can't see how these measures are going to create the conditions for free and fair elections in September. They are insufficient," said British aid worker Barbara Stapelton.

The United Nations has mandated ISAF to extend its mission to the countryside but so far the extra troops have been slow to arrive despite repeated appeals from the interim Afghan government and aid workers.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said "security outside of Kabul is pretty good" and thanked the international community for its support ahead of the election, the first since the Taliban militia was ousted from power in 2001.

"I'm sure all of this security together with more steps taken before the election will ensure security in Afghanistan," he told a press conference at the end of the international meeting here.

He quipped however that after gaining three-year commitments for 8.2 billion dollars in aid from the international community here on Wednesday, he was not going to complain that more needed to be done on the security front.

NATO currently has some 6,500 troops in Afghanistan while the US-led coalition, which is focused on fighting Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists, has around 13,500.

Relief agencies blasted the security measures announced here, saying a third of Afghanistan was already off-limits to unnarmed aid workers.

"The measures that have been announced will not substantially alter the situation. PRTs do not mean anything in terms of the creation of ambient security," said Stapleton, advocacy and policy co-ordinator for the Kabul-based Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief.

"In terms of security the situation continues to deteriorate. We hear a lot of talk but we're not seeing any change in the conditions on the ground. There is a gap between the rhetoric and what is actually happening."

WAR.WIRE