On the sidelines, Washington stepped up pressure on Syria saying it is "certain" that Damascus still has intelligence agents operating in Lebanon to destabilise the country.

In addition, the so-called "quartet" of diplomatic powers seeking Middle East peace, got together to stress the "urgent need" for Israel and the Palestinians to coordinate the Israeli pullout from the Gaza.

The foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States were also expected to use the meeting to discuss a goal set by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to tackle poverty in Africa and global warming at the main G8 summit in Scotland next month.

Following talks with their Afghan counterpart Abdullah Abdullah, the G8 foreign ministers congratulated Afghanistan on its "remarkable progress" since the downfall of the hardline Taliban regime in 2001.

"We warmly welcome the prospect of parliamentary and provincial elections on September 18 as a further important step towards democracy," the G8 said.

"These elections will mark a successful conclusion to the formal Bonn Process (initiated in Decem-ber 2001 to map out Afghanistan's transition) but not the end of the international community's commitment to Afghanistan."

The statement of support from the G8 to President Hamid Karzai's government in Kabul coincided with news of fierce clashes in southern Afghanistan in which 132 Taliban rebels were killed, according to the Afghan defence ministry.

Staying with the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, fresh from a whistlestop tour of the Middle East and a conference on Iraq in Brussels, met with her French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy ahead of the G8 talks to talk about Syria.

Both diplomats reiterated a call for Damascus to respect UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which France and the United States promoted last year calling for a full withdrawal of all Syrian forces from Lebanon and an end to foreign interference in the country.

After the meeting, a senior US State Department official said Washington was extremely concerned about the situation in Lebanon following two political assassinations this month and three since February when former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri was killed in a bomb attack on his motorcade.

Syria withdrew the last of its troops in April to end a 29-year presence. But the official, who asked not to be named, said: "There is no question that Syrian military intelligence agents have stayed behind and are asserting a very negative influence."

In a morning of diplomacy, foreign ministers from the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations reiterated a call for Israel and the Palestinians to live up to their obligations under the "roadmap" for peace.