The Afghan government and NATO forces are agreeing to a more gradual pullout from a key providence than President Hamid Karzai had demanded.

Villagers had accused the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of torturing and killing civilians, which was strongly denied by the Americans.

Karzai had wanted them out on 10 March, and the new arrangement keeps ISAF troops in that province for the time being.  British Lieutenant General Nick Carter says a small region of Nerkh inside Wardak province would transferred to "an Afghan solution" within the next few days.

The ISAF says Nerkh is a known hiding place for Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami militants, and the Afghan government is afraid the militants will use it to stage attacks on Kabul, less than an hour away.