Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said today that the bulk of troops for a foreign security force would arrive in the country within days, but final details had still to be agreed.
Afghanistan's new government has been loath to agree to a lengthy deployment of foreign troops on its soil and has also been in discussions on the size, trying to keep the numbers as small as possible.
Asked when the bulk of the foreign soldiers would arrive, Abdullah told a news conference that they would come soon.
"I am talking about days," he said, even though some issues were still being hammered out.
"The final details of the tactical agreement (are) under discussion between our country and the leading troop contributing country, which is Britain," he told a news conference.
Abdullah also said that pockets of al Qaeda fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden are still holding out in southern sections of Afghanistan.
"In some of the southern parts of Afghanistan, in Paktia province, we believe there are still pockets of al Qaeda," he told the news conference.
He said several active pockets of al Qaeda were operating around southern Kandahar, birthplace of the Taliban and their final stronghold until they surrendered it to tribal chieftains on December 7th.