"All commanders agreed to work closely with the ministry of defence in taking direction from the central government to the common defence of the nation and in building the new national army," the ministry said in a statement.

The statement came at the end of a two-day conference on "Shaping the future of Afghanistan -- the military dimension" attended by the interior, foreign and defence ministers along with some 50 militia leaders, Herat governor Ismail Khan, Kandahar governor and former mujahedin leader Gul Agha and northern warlord Atta Mohammad.

It was co-hosted by the US-led military coalition which is trying to improve regional security for the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Disarming regional militias and integrating them into the nascent Afghan national army is a priority for Karzai.

"There was wide agreement that the future success of Afghanistan depends on national unity with local governments responding to a strong central government," the defence ministry statement said.

It said the army would be composed of all ethnic groups. Ethnic Tajik Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim had been accused of trying to pack the army with Tajik recruits.

"Soldiers and officers should be recruited from all ethnicities, all provinces and from all walks of life so that each unit is representative of the nation and able to gain the confidence and trust of all people of the nation."

US Lieutenant General Dan McNeill, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, said Saturday it had been "a tough road" building the army due to ingrained ethnic and regional differences and suspicions.

"I'm happy to say that many of those suspicions, not all, but many of those suspicions have been put aside for the benefit of this country," he said.

Recruits were now arriving in the right numbers and "representing each ethnic group and each region."

Afghanistan aims by next summer to have a "central core" of 9,000 to 12,000 soldiers, a fraction of the goal of a 70,000-strong army.

"We, the people of Afghanistan, know and must know that securing Afghanistan's territory is our work, the work of Afghans," Karzai said in his opening speech Saturday.

"Securing the independence of this land, its integrity, its honour is the work of Afghanistan."

The US-led coalition is currently hunting down Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants in a bid to improve regional stability while a peacekeeping International Security Assistance Force is responsible for security in Kabul.

Karzai is trying to extend the influence of his government beyond Kabul to the provinces, which remain largely under the control of local warlords.

Tajik warlord Mohammad and Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostam, who is a deputy defence minister, have been vying for control of northern Afghanistan. Clashes between their rival militias in the northern city of Maimana recently left 18 people dead.

SPACE.WIRE