AFGHANISTAN - Dec. 2 - Kabul To Create 70,000-Troop Army.

At a 1-day conference in Bonn to mark the first anniversary of a landmark agreement on the future of the country, Pres. Hamid Karzai announces that his government will establish a streamlined national army of up to 70,000 troops, under civilian control, and re-double a campaign to disarm militias still roaming the countryside. Noting that security remains the biggest concern, Karzai says he has signed a decree creating the National Army, a volunteer force that will largely be trained, equipped and financed by the US, with some help from its coalition partners, France and Britain. He says: "We have decided to have an army that is small, effective, well-paid and in the service of the nation". He says the militias, which by some estimates have 700,000 men under arms, will be disbanded within a year. Their weapons, including tanks, artillery and rocket launchers, will be collected, with the help of the UN and Japan, and turned over to the Defence Ministry. Karzai tells a news conference: "There is neither a compromise, nor room, for anyone to say no". (Some leaders, including Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Fahim, have pushed for a much larger force of 200,000). Karzai also announces that six neighbours - Pakistan, China, Iran, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - have agreed to convene in Kabul later this month to sign a declaration pledging to respect borders and not to interfere in each other's internal affairs. "We will take their words as trustworthy and good", says Karzai, noting, however, that given its history of foreign invasion, Kabul needs a well-trained army to protect it.