AFGHANISTAN - Dec. 30 - Peacekeeping Troops Set Up HQ In Kabul.

British troops begin setting up the headquarters of the international peacekeeping force. Interim FM Abdullah Abdullah says: "Very soon, we will be able to see multinational forces. We are not going to discuss details, but the agreement has been finalised". (The first peacekeepers, a group of British troops, arrived shortly before the Dec. 22 inauguration of the six-month interim administration. At the weekend, the British peacekeepers, who are leading the operation, carried out the first joint patrol with Afghan troops through Kabul).

The peacekeeping accord would allow up to 3,000 foreign troops, said Interim Defence Minister Mohammad Fahim. Of the 3,000, about one third would help maintain security while the rest would focus on logistical and humanitarian tasks. Meanwhile, US defence officials say US bombers hit a suspected Taliban leadership complex outside the eastern city of Gardez. US jets are continuing to fly "ready to attack targets of opportunity" such as convoys, compounds and enemy troops, the spokesman says. An Afghan news service reported that the US bombing in the preceding on Dec. 28-29 had killed at least 15 people in the east of the country, where an apparently off-target bomb killed 65 people earlier in December. In Washington, the Defence Department said the number of suspected Taliban and Al Qaida fighters being held by US forces rose to 150 on Dec. 30.