Myers will visit Bagram Air Base to meet with leaders of the US-led military coalition in Afghanistan, the US military said in a statement Tuesday from the base 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kabul.

Bagram is the main base for the 11,500-strong force hunting Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants and helping with reconstruction in Afghanistan.

"During his visit, General Myers will be meeting with the CJTF 180 (coalition) leadership to discuss a range of issues," the statement said.

Myers, who serves as principal military advisor to President George W. Bush, is also due to meet with Afghan Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim on Wednesday afternoon.

Myers became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, 2001 just weeks after the September 11 terror attacks which lead to the US-led toppling of the Taliban regime which harboured al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The general's visit comes as Human Rights Watch said US-backed Afghan warlords were creating a climate of fear which is threatening efforts to adopt a new constitution and could derail elections due by June 2004.

"Human rights abuses in Afghanistan are being committed by gunmen and warlords who were propelled into power by the United States and its coalition partners after the Taliban fell in 2001," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

"These men and others have essentially hijacked the country outside of Kabul. With less than a year to go before national elections, Afghanistan's human rights situation appears to be worsening," Adams said.

The testimony in the report of victims and witnesses implicates soldiers and police under the command of senior military and political officials, including several ministers, among them Defence Minister Fahim.

Afghanistan is currently attempting to implement urgent reforms to the ministry of defence to pave the way for the launch of a nationwide programme to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate around 100,000 armed militiamen.

Disarming local militias and rebuilding the national army is seen as key to efforts to improve security throughout the country, much of which remains under the sway of local warlords with their own private armies and only nominal allegiance to President Hamid Karzai.

The United States is leading efforts to rebuild the national army, which currently numbers 5,000, against an eventual force of 70,000.

WAR.WIRE