Poland's prime minister says he wants NATO to develop a timetable to end its mission in Afghanistan.

Donald Tusk said Saturday that he plans to raise the issue at the alliance's next summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in November, The Associated Press reported.
His comments came after a Polish soldier was killed on Saturday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Poland has some 2,600 troops there, making it the seventh largest troop contributor to NATO's mission.
Tusk said he wants NATO to work out “a possibly quick plan for ending the mission that should also be as precise as possible.”
That message was echoed Saturday by Poland's acting president, Bronislaw Komorowski, who is running in a presidential race June 20.
Mr. Tusk, who came to power in October 2007, believes that withdrawing cooperation from the American project will enable Warsaw to build better relations with its two powerful neighbors, Germany and Russia.
Karzai seeks support for Kandahar op
President Hamid Karzai called Sunday on community leaders in Kandahar to support a NATO campaign to bolster security in this Taliban stronghold, urging people to work with his government to “bring dignity back.”
NATO has already begun an operation to ramp up security in Kandahar, and the campaign is expected to accelerate the coming months. Many of the estimated half-million Kandahar residents are skeptical of the operation, fearing it will lead to more bloodshed.
Karzai told the assembled group that the operation will be led by Afghan forces and will not include any aircraft, according to a statement issued by the president's office. Though civilian deaths from NATO forces have been decreasing, air strikes continue to be the main cause of civilian deaths by the military alliance, AP reported.
He said the operation will start in Kandahar city and spread out to surrounding districts, according to the statement.
During a meeting in a stuffy conference hall in Kandahar city, several hundred people including tribal chiefs and religious leaders cheered as Karzai denounced corruption among police and local powerbrokers.
Pakistan denies ISI’s Taliban ties
A report for the London School of Economics (LSE) claimed that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) provides funding, training and sanctuary to the Taliban in Afghanistan, however the report was dismissed by the Pakistani military as “malicious and baseless”.
The LSE study, based on interviews with nine Taliban field commanders in Afghanistan between February and May this year, claims their relationship goes far beyond what is currently known, AFP reported.
“Although the Taliban has a strong endogenous impetus, according to Taliban commanders the ISI orchestrates, sustains and strongly influences the movement,” wrote author Matt Waldman, a fellow at Harvard University.
Waldman said the ISI appears to exert “significant influence” on strategic decision-making and field operations of the Taliban and controls the most violent insurgent units, some of which appear to be based in Pakistan.
The report also alleges that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari himself had assured captive, senior Taliban leaders that they were “our people” and had his backing. He had apparently authorized some to be released from prison.
It concludes that efforts by the Afghan government and NATO-led forces to end the insurgency in Afghanistan will only be possible with Pakistani support.
The report drew an angry reaction from the Pakistani military.
“It is a part of a malicious campaign against the Pakistan army and the ISI,” Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
“It is baseless. The sacrifices by Pakistan's army and the ISI and the casualties in the war on terror speak for themselves,” he said. “We have a series of questions on the credibility of the report.”
Photo: Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk (R) and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen meet at the Prime Minister's Chancellery in Warsaw November 23, 2009. (Reuters photo)