Karzai says between rock and hard place on reforms

KABUL, June 11 (Reuters) Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today his government was trying to follow a moderate path in the face of competing pressures from the international community and his nation on police reforms.

Speaking to a tribal delegation from eastern provinces, the West-leaning president said while foreign donors, who have been bankrolling Afghanistan's economy, have been pushing for police reforms, Afghans did not want him to replace certain people in his government.

''As we speak, there are two kinds of pressures on the government. The pressure is mounting,'' he told the delegates at his heavily-fortified presidential palace.

He said he was trying to follow a moderate way ''so that the world does not get upset. For without the world's cooperation, Afghanistan cannot make progress and we ask the world too to take into consideration Afghanistan's current situation.'' The United Nations has urged rapid reform within the police force after it failed to prevent a rampage through Kabul last month following a car accident in which a U.S. military vehicle crashed into Afghan vehicles and killed at least five people.

During the riot shops were looted, several aid agencies and a private television station were attacked and angry protestors reached the gates of the U.S. embassy and the parliament.

At least seven more people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the riots which coincided with the bloodiest phase of insurgency by Taliban guerrillas in the south since the militants' overthrow in late 2001.

Karzai cancelled an overseas trip and ordered a night-time curfew in the face of the riots, in which anti-Karzai and American slogans were shouted.

The riots were the worst since the Taliban's fall and prompted Karzai to sack dozens of police officials.

Karzai is seen as a man who wants to appease everybody, but his approach is regarded by some Afghans and Westerners as insufficient to pull Afghanistan out of decades of conflict and a rising militant insurgency.

REUTERS CH KP1944