KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai told a visiting United Nations Security Council delegation Tuesday the international community should set a timeline to end the war in Afghanistan.

It appeared to be the first time Karzai has called for such a deadline to defeat Taliban militants and raise a stable and competent Afghan security establishment.

"If there is no deadline, we have the right to find another solution for peace and security, which is negotiations," Karzai was quoted saying in a statement from his office.

Karzai didn't specify when he wants the deadline set by.

The United States is ramping up military and aid efforts in Afghanistan. It now has some 32,000 troops in the country but U.S. military leaders say up to 20,000 more could be sent to Afghanistan next year.

Canada has some 2,500 soldiers in the country.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said: "We have our own deadline for the combat mission, 2011."

"We support the central government and its efforts in the reconciliation process."

She said reconciliation would have to involve recognition of the legitimacy of the central government in Afghanistan.

The Afghan president also told the UN team air strikes by international military forces and searches in Afghan homes must stop, the statement. Karzai has made that demand repeatedly.

The UN delegation is in Afghanistan to push for regional co-operation as it takes stock of the situation in Afghanistan.

The UN visit comes as Afghanistan has faced record levels of violence. U.S. officials have said their forces have seen a 30-per-cent increase in attacks this year compared with 2007.

More than 5,500 people -- mostly militants -- have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and western officials.

Meanwhile, Afghan police have arrested 10 Taliban militants allegedly involved in an acid attack against 15 girls and teachers walking to school in southern Afghanistan earlier this month.

"Several" of the arrested militants have confessed to taking part in the attack, said Kandahar Gov. Rahmatullah Raufi on Tuesday. He declined to say exactly how many had confessed.

Raufi said high-ranking Taliban fighters paid the militants a total of US$2,000 to carry out the attack. The attackers came from Pakistan but were Afghan nationals, said Doud Doud, an Interior Ministry official.

The attackers squirted acid from water bottles onto three groups of students and teachers walking to Mirwais Mena Girls School in Kandahar City on Nov. 12.

Several girls suffered burns to the face and were hospitalized. One teenager couldn't open her eyes days after the attack, which sparked condemnation from around the world.

Karzai's government called the attack "un-Islamic," while the UN labelled it "a hideous crime."

Raufi said the suspects will be tried in open court after the investigation is completed.

One of the victims of the attack, a teacher named Nuskaal who was burned through her burka, called Tuesday for harsh punishment.

"If these people are found guilty, the government should throw the same acid on these criminals. After that they should be hanged," said Nuskaal, who like many Afghans goes by one name.

Karzai has called for a public execution of the perpetrators.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi denied Taliban militants were involved in the attack.