KABUL, Afghanistan (EPN) -- Afghan troops may point a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at your crotch or playfully fire assault rifles into the air, but British forces are impressed and hope to hone them into a professional fighting force.

British experience in patrolling Northern Ireland, "intelligence-gathering" and other skills will help Kabul's new rulers keep the peace, said Major Guy Richardson, spokesman of the U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"We are talking about low-level training to start off with, how to decide who stays in [the military], who goes, pay rates, uniforms, how best to train them, how best to organize their barracks and so on," Maj. Richardson said in a taped interview.

"We have a [Afghan] force here who have a huge amount of experience themselves, and we can learn from them as well.

"We just need to massage that huge experience and give some advice," he added.

"We are very keen once all our troops are in theater [Afghanistan], which is anticipated to be around about mid-February…it is then our intention to turn our advice over to the [Afghan] interim authority on how to best go about getting their army back up and running.

"As to the detail of this, this is yet to be decided but we, the British in particular, have a lot of experience in building up armies because we've recently done a lot of work in Sierra Leone where we have retrained the Sierra Leone army.

"They are now up and running, a very formidable force, who can indeed protect their own borders on the west coast of Africa.

"There is also a lot of scope for us to assist in giving some advice on policing," Maj. Richardson said.

Afghanistan's security forces are comprised of former guerrillas in the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance and other militias and volunteers.

Those forces are a motley collection under rival commanders in various parts of the country, often more concerned with acquiring money, turf and political influence rather than upgrading their training and personnel.

During the past three months of war, an unknown number of Taliban forces reportedly pulled off their black turbans and joined the Northern Alliance and other U.S.-backed units rather than fight to the death on battlefields.

Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum is symbolic of the underlying treachery and powder keg structure of Afghanistan's military.

Gen. Dostum is suspected of committing horrific atrocities during the past 20 years after betraying virtually all his previous allies.

As a result, many commanders and tribal-based contingents remain at odds with him and each other.

They appeared to be biding their time, however, while international aid flows into Afghanistan.

If the foreign cash is not lavish enough, or is not distributed to their liking, feuds within the military could once again erupt and threaten Afghanistan with renewed civil war.

Afghan security forces have no shortage of weapons and ammunition.

Unused rockets, anti-aircraft bullets and other equipment are frequently scattered in the dirt or stacked in buildings throughout Kabul and other major cities and towns.

The munitions were left over from Taliban forces who suddenly abandoned the capital on Nov. 13.

In a small royal palace next to the president's palace, for example, a downstairs kitchen floor is covered with weapons and ammo. Upstairs, Taliban identification cards and photos lay tossed under a sofa.

On a mountain peak overlooking Kabul where U.S. bombs destroyed a television antennae and relay station, abandoned bunkers are packed with rockets and bullets, ignored by authorities who are more concerned with repairing the broadcasting facilities.

Kabul, meanwhile, is relatively safe.

The Taliban clamped curfews on the capital after coming to power in 1996 and a 10 p.m. curfew is still in effect.

After 10 p.m., Afghan security forces manning road blocks stop all vehicles and pedestrians who do not know the password, which changes every night.

On a recent night, an American journalist and an Afghan translator were forced to spend the night inside their car at a checkpoint while apologetic security forces diligently aimed assault rifles at them until dawn.

After international forces arrived in Kabul, most weapons disappeared from the streets in conformity with requests that troops go back to barracks and display weapons only when guarding key installations.

Afghan troops guarding ministries, however, still point their assault rifles and machine guns in an undisciplined manner, or simply lay them on a table in front of themselves despite the possibility that their weapon could be grabbed.

"Every army has its own ways and means of dealing with their own weapons," Maj. Richardson said.

"Irrespective of the manner in which they hold them and use them, they [Afghan troops] are very effective, there is no doubt about that.

"Here in Afghanistan it is part of the culture, and they get hands on a weapon at a very early stage in their life and it becomes second nature.

"That in itself, in many ways, gives them a huge advantage because they know the make-up of their weapon back to front, particularly the likes of the AK-47," he added, referring to the Kalashnikov assault rifle which many Afghan men own.

The Brits' experience patrolling Northern Ireland would be valuable advice for the Kabul regime, though there are huge differences.

"To use Northern Ireland is not a bad analogy. It is very different to Northern Ireland with regards to culture and environment here, but there are things that we can use from our experience.

"Patrolling in particular. The British contingent on the ground, Second Battalion Parachute Regiment, have recently been to Northern Ireland.

"The interaction with the local community is very much a part of Northern Ireland as indeed it is here. The interaction with police forces is a key requirement in Northern Ireland as it is here.

"Getting to know an area of responsibility is very important. [The method of] conducting intelligence-gathering in Northern Ireland is very important here.

"We will be building up, with advice from the interim administration, a picture as to areas which need to be known as slightly dodgy areas, where perhaps people may not be as kind toward us as in other areas.

"We are here not to run the show, but to assist the interim administration," the ISAF spokesman said.

Their ability to help is limited because Kabul's unelected interim regime is to govern only for six months and then organize a grand council which would decide who rules for the following two years.

It is unclear how that future council would work with foreign military advisers and trainers.

In 2004, elections are expected to be held to form a more democratic government, which could also result in a review of previous military agreements.

"I understand the Germans have shown an interest, once they are all settled, with regards to showing them [Afghans] how best to look after the roads, traffic control, traffic police and so on," Maj. Richardson said.

"Those of you who are [reading this] who have been in Kabul will know that it's anyone's call in Kabul if you have a car. There really are very few rules," he said.

"There are a lot of countries coming in who have a lot of experience" in training armies and police, Maj. Richardson said.

"This is an international force, and it is imperative that we use the experience from the international community, so it is certainly not just the Brits" who will advise Afghans about their security forces, he added.

"We [British] at the moment are the command and control mechanism…so we will coordinate the effort on the behalf of the international community."