KABUL: Afghanistan is to host a landmark international conference on Tuesday aimed at charting a path for its future development and showing Western supporters what has been achieved in the nine years since the Taliban regime was overthrown.

Here are the main facts about the event:

-- The one-day conference is due to open at 9:00 am (0430 GMT) with a recitation from the Koran followed by the Afghan national anthem.

-- Attending are about 70 international representatives, including about 40 foreign ministers led by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

-- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will co-chair the conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

-- Karzai will deliver an opening address expected to focus on his government`s development priorities and a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban.

-- Karzai is also expected to lay out a timeframe for Afghan police and military to take responsibility for the country`s security, allowing foreign combat troops to withdraw by the end of 2014.

-- Afghan officials are set to present proposals covering governance, economic and social development, rule of law and justice, human rights and aid effectiveness.

-- Delegates will hear that the United States and other international partners have agreed to grant the Afghan government control of 50 percent of all donor funds within two years, in an effort to control rampant graft.

-- Afghanistan will ask its supporters to endorse and fund a new programme to set up an armed community police, akin to controversial village militias, in remote regions with no foreign or Afghan army presence.

-- Karzai will meet heads of delegations including Clinton and Ban to discuss a range of issues.

-- Thousands of extra security forces, led by NATO and Afghan troops, have been deployed in and around Kabul to guard against potential Taliban attacks. A suicide bomb attack killed three people in Kabul on Sunday.

-- All roads leading to the foreign ministry, where the conference will be held, the diplomatic enclave and the airport have been closed. Monday and Tuesday have been declared public holidays in the capital.

BDST: 0916 HRS, July 20, 2010