LONDON (IRNA) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki called on Tuesday for a timetable to be set for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan to prevent the risk of causing further domestic insecurity and regional concerns.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that foreign troops and security forces must set a timetable for their withdrawal," Mottaki said.

"Their presence, in the meantime, must be in context of resolutions and international agreements," he told delegates from some 60 countries attending the two-day Afghanistan Conference, which opened Tuesday. The Iranian foreign minister warned that after the completion of the institution building phase in Afghanistan, the continued presence of foreign forces will "lead to domestic insecurity and regional concerns."

"Unfortunately, the proposals tabled by the Islamic Republic of Iran on the issue of security have not been included in the text of the final document" of the conference, he said.

The conference is being hosted by the UK to provide an opportunity for the government of Afghanistan to present its Interim National Development Strategy, setting out its political and economic plans and priorities for the next five years.

Representatives of donor countries including the UK, the U.S. and Germany, together with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, were renewing their pledges in support of the strategy, and of the goals agreed in a new Afghanistan Compact plan.

In his address to the conference, Mottaki also called for renewed action to be taken against drug smugglers in Afghanistan, who he said should be included in the circle of terrorists that disrupt regional security.

"The status quo is no longer acceptable to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which as you appreciate, is in the frontline and is spending considerable money and manpower to fight the main smugglers and distributors of Afghan-made narcotics," he said.

"The drugs mafia has not only managed to survive but has also expanded its role as the main source of terrorism and insecurity," the Iranian foreign minister warned.

He revealed that Iran will be organizing a special conference on the need for governments to accept responsibility with regard to the production of narcotics.

Earlier, Afghan President Hamid Karzai suggested that his country faced a further "10 to 15 year" battle to eradicate heroine production and admitted that he had "naively" believed that poppy cultivation would have been wiped out by now.

Iran, he said, was "against unilateralism in international and regional issues and is thankful to the UN for assisting with the implementation of the Bonn agreement" that was signed in 2001 and which the new Afghanistan Compact is seeking to replace.

"I share the hope that through the continuous efforts of the Afghan government and the patient and resilient people of that country, Afghanistan will find its appropriate standing in the community of nations," the Iranian foreign minister concluded.