Actualité de la gestion privée

A copy of the world's most expensive book, which features life-sized prints of flamingoes and swans, is tipped to fetch up to six million pounds at auction in Britain, Sotheby's said Thursday.
John James Audubon's seven-volume "Birds Of America", which dates from the 19th century, will be sold alongside literary treasures like a copy of William Shakespeare's "First Folio" and a series of letters by Queen Elizabeth I.
There are thought to be just over 100 copies of Audubon's huge book -- which measures around 90 centimetres by 60 centimetres (three foot by two foot) -- still in existence and another sold for 8.8 million dollars 10 years ago.
Before painting the birds, Audubon shot them and hung them on a wire.
All of the works belonged to a British book collector, Lord Frederick Hesketh, who died 55 years ago, although his collection is only now being sold off by the trustees of his will.
The whole collection could sell for up to 10 million pounds (12 million euros, 15.5 million dollars) in a sale at Sotheby's in London on December 7.
David Goldthorpe of the auction house said: "The sale offers the twin peaks of book collecting -- the most expensive book in the world, Audubon's 'Birds of America' and the most important book in all of English literature, Shakespeare's 'First Folio.'
"We are thrilled to be offering such a diverse and remarkable collection."

Sweden and Finland, posting soaring economic growth on Wednesday, appear to be making a spectacular recovery from the deep recession their export-reliant economies experienced during the global financial crisis.
"It's pretty fair to say that the sun is shining over the Swedish economy currently," Swedish Finance Minister told reporters after the latest figures were published.
Economic growth in the Scandinavian country accelerated in the second quarter by 4.6 percent on a 12-month comparison, and by 1.9 percent compared to output in the previous quarter, according to revised numbers from the national statistics agency.
Sweden, which is less than two weeks from general elections, thus hit its highest growth rate since 2000.
The latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures "probably mean that you actually have to compare Sweden to Asia to see figures of the same magnitude. Very few European countries are above three percent and even fewer are above four percent," Borg said.
Although the turn-around is closely linked to a strengthening global economy that has improved the climate for manufacturing and exports, analysts say the Nordic recovery also rests on strong fundamentals such as healthy public finances and strong consumption.
The new numbers place Sweden's economy at the very forefront of the European crowd, alongside Germany, Poland and Slovakia, and far ahead of the average European Union second quarter growth rate of 1.0 percent compared to the previous three-month period and 1.9 percent year-on-year.
"Of course, we've had a larger decline last year in particular in the manufacture industry and (now) we're bouncing back," explained Olle Olmgren, an analyst with the SEB bank.
"But a more underlying factor is that the domestic demand is very firm, with households that have strong balance sheets, unemployment falling, increase of consumption and the same is true for public finances," he told AFP.
Contrary to many other EU countries that face towering debt and harsh austerity measures, the Swedish government has benefited from strong public finances to put in place economic stabilisation mechanisms and plans to continue to strengthen the country's famous welfare state, Olmgren pointed out.
Sweden's eastern neighbour Finland, which long struggled with one of the eurozone's deepest recessions, also posted strong second quarter growth figures Wednesday, with its gross domestic product swelling 1.9 percent during the quarter, according to Statistics Finland.
The data also showed the economy grew by 3.7 percent year-on-year, according to the statistics agency, which revised sharply upwards its GDP numbers for the first quarter from a contraction of 0.4 percent to growth of 0.1 percent.
Chief economist for Handelsbanken Finland, Tiina Helenius, told AFP the revised data for the preceding quarters was particularly interesting since it meant Finland had not fallen back into recession at the beginning of the year as previously indicated.
The economy had actually been improving in step with its Nordic neighbors, she said.
Last week the International Monetary Fund published a report on Finland's financial health, recommending that the country start scaling back recovery programmes at least by the start of 2011.
Helenius however cautioned that Finland was still recovering and should be wary of jumping too quickly onto the budget-balancing wagon.
"There's this idea to pull back recovery initiatives and balance the budget, but if everyone starts doing this at once, it could have a negative effect," she said.
Pekka Tiainen, the chief economist for the employment and economy ministry, meanwhile said that although the country's economy seemed to be moving in the right direction, the second quarter figures might be deceptive.
"The focus on rising exports is a little overrated, because imports have increased about the same amount, so the difference isn't too significant," he told AFP.
In the rest of the Nordic region, Denmark also reported better-than-expected second-quarter numbers, with economic growth of 1.0 percent for the three-month period and of 2.8 percent compared to a year earlier, but its forecasts remained at a modest 1.4 GDP percent growth for this year and 1.8 percent in 2011.
Norway meanwhile posted less spectacular growth figures -- just 0.5 percent for the second quarter and 1.6 percent year-on-year, but the country had also fallen far less dramatically during the financial crisis, largely due to its massive oil and gas resources.
Norway last year became the first European country to begin raising interest rates again after the crisis, followed by Sweden in July.

International ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday raised its credit outlook on Russia to "positive" from "stable," saying the country was recovering from the global financial crisis.
"The Russian economy is recovering after being hit hard by the global financial crisis," Edward Parker, the head of Fitch's emerging Europe section, said in a statement.
He said a more flexible exchange rate policy, stabilisation of the banking sector and rising foreign exchange reserves were among factors that were expected to boost the country's financial and economic prospects.
"Recovery appears to be fairly balanced, and is supported by the rebound in oil prices, rising real incomes and stabilisation of financial confidence and capital flows," the agency said.
"A sizeable current account surplus, which Fitch forecasts at 4.6 percent of GDP in 2010, is helping Russia to rebuild its foreign exchange reserves."
Fitch maintained the country's credit Rating at BBB.
Last year, Russia's hydrocarbon-dependent economy suffered a 7.9-percent economic contraction after growth of 5.6 percent in 2008.
The country suffered from a record drought this summer that officials said would cut at least 0.7-0.8 percentage points from 2010 growth.
Fitch said the country's economy however remained weighed down by poor governance, corruption, a weak business climate and heavy exposure to commodity prices.

For many Americans the long-cherished dream of home ownership was dashed by the financial crisis, but upcoming government reforms may make it even more difficult to secure that picket-fenced home.
After overhauling Wall Street and the US health care system President Barack Obama's administration will -- by January 2011 -- tackle rules that have underpinned the housing industry for decades.
Obama's main tool for change is a shift in the policies of huge government-backed lenders that have provided mortgages for millions of middle-class Americans since the 1930s, but which recently needed bailouts worth hundreds of billions of dollars to stay afloat.
How the Treasury Department intends to reform the housing market is unclear. But one thing is certain: the state will no longer sustain home ownership rates at levels seen before the crisis.
With the creation of lenders Fannie Mae and later Freddie Mac, as they are commonly known, successive governments have fostered home ownership.
Ownership rates saw almost constant growth between 1940 and 2004, with a blip in the 1980s when interest rates rose prohibitively.
According to the historian and sociologist Thomas Sugrue, "every generation has offered its own version of the claim that owner-occupied homes are the nation's saving grace.
"During the Cold War, home ownership was moral armor, protecting America from dangerous outside influences."
As William Levitt, the father of suburbia, once claimed: "no man who owns his own house and lot can be a Communist."
Later, in the Bill Clinton era, home ownership was seen as an important element in achieving personal fulfillment, neighborhood stability and crime prevention.
But as millions of Americans struggle to pay monthly bills, the crisis has kicked up a painful realization that not every American might be qualified to own their own home.
That realization has forged Obama's approach, which is likely to break with the notion of a "home ownership society" supported by successive presidents across party lines.
In 1994 Democratic president Bill Clinton set a target of having 67.5 percent of occupants own their homes by 2000.
The goal was reached and taken further by his Republican successor George W. Bush who vowed to expand "home ownership for all Americans."
The ownership rate rose to a peak of 69.2 percent in late 2004, according to figures from the Census Bureau.
But that figure has retreated dramatically with the crisis.
According to a recent study by the Federal Reserve, the 67.2-percent-rate of home ownership seen at the end of 2009 may actually inflated by around 5.6 percent, as some homes are in reality owned by banks rather than their occupants.
That would make current home ownership levels the lowest since the 1960s.
And the writing may be on the wall for further declines.
A move to overhaul Fannie and Freddie could further reduce access to capital for the less well-off, dampening a dream which has been embossed on the American political and social landscape for decades.
"To be clear, the government's footprint in the housing market needs to be smaller than it is today," Shaun Donovan, Obama's head of housing policy, recently remarked.

European Union finance ministers endorsed on Tuesday a compromise deal to create pan-European supervisors to oversee banks, insurers and markets as a way of preventing a new financial crisis.
EU states and the European parliament reached an agreement last week after months of negotiations over how much power to grant to the new agencies, with Britain seeking guarantees that its fiscal sovereignty would be protected.
An EU statement said finance ministers "endorsed an agreement reached with the European Parliament on September 2 on key elements of a reform of the EU framework for supervision of the financial system."
The statement added: "The reform is aimed at establishing a new basis for supervision in Europe, eliminating deficiencies that were exposed during the financial crisis."
The deal creates a European Banking Authority, a European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and a European Securities and Markets Authority.
It also forms a European Systemic Risk Board which would look out for threats to the region's economy.
The deal now goes to the EU parliament which will vote on it at its next plenary session starting September 20. The EU hopes the supervisors will be operational on January 1.
Britain, home to one of the world's biggest financial centres in London, has insisted that decisions of the pan-European agencies should never interfere with a state's fiscal sovereignty.
It fought to limit the ability of the European agencies to intervene in a crisis by obtaining the right to appeal their decisions. However European lawmakers believed such a mechanism would weaken the supervisors and a compromise was finally reached last week that would prevent any "abuse" of the safeguard.

German banks may be forced to reduce their lending activity in order to drastically increase their capital base under proposed new regulation, Germany's private banking federation said on Monday.
The possible introduction of a strict ratio linking banks' capital to their lending activities would be "counter-productive" since banks would be forced to reduce their loans, Germany's BdB federation said in a statement.
"Going too far would threaten the economic recovery and positive developments on the labour market," the statement said.
The Switzerland-based Basel Committee -- the main international forum for banking regulation -- is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss tighter rules aimed at trying to avert another global financial crisis.
The new rules are set to go for final approval before a meeting of the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies in Seoul in November.
The BdB federation said that implementing all the new regulations would force Germany's top 10 banks to raise 105 billion euros (135 billion dollars).
The German government has expressed some reservations but has not directly opposed the new rules and has said it hopes for a long transition period.

Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou said Sunday he would support candidates from the left and the right in forthcoming regional elections, when his Socialist government faces its first electoral test since the financial crisis.
The candidates, who range from an ecologist to a former culture minister for the opposition centre-right party, were "capable" and could "bring great change" to Greece, Papandreou said.
The national council for Pasok, the ruling Socialist party headed by Papandreou, also announced it would support the non-political candidate George Kaminis for mayor of Athens, bringing a small left-wing party into the fold.
In Greece's second-largest city Thessaloniki, a longtime right-wing stronghold, Pasok said it would support a wine producer close to the ecologists, Iannis Boutaris.
For the role of regional prefect in the Peloponnese, Pasok has opted for a candidate on the right, supporting the independent Petros Tatoulis, ex-culture minister and dissident from the main opposition party, New Democracy.
The regional elections, which will take place on November 7, will be the first electoral test for Papandreou since he took power in October 2009 and after he was forced to give drastic shock therapy to the economy in a bid to save Greece from bankruptcy.
Pasok continues to have a good lead in polls, but surveys also reveal strong dissatisfaction among voters over the government's major austerity measures.

The auction house that is putting Michael Jackson's memorabilia under the hammer in Macau has dismissed accusations that the sale goes against the singer's wishes, a report said Sunday.
More than 100 items once used by Jackson -- including a pair of crystal-studded gloves and a set of Jackson 5 jumpsuits -- will go on a sale by US-based Julien's Auctions in the glitzy gambling haven of Macau in October 9.
But in an interview with British tabloid Daily Star in August, Jackson's former lawyer, Brian Oxman, said the late star had tried to stop the auction, and the sale in Macau would be tantamount to selling off his children's Estate.
"This is an outrage. Back in May of 2009 there was to be an auction. Michael demanded it was stopped. He never wanted this material to be auctioned," Oxman was quoted as saying to the tabloid.
"He would be furious. He would be turning in his grave. This was to be his legacy to his children, and the legacy of his children is being sold off," he said in the report.
In response, Darren Julien, president and chief executive of Julien's Auctions, told the South China Morning Post that Oxman was "only seeking publicity" in levelling accusations against the auction house.
"None of the items are consigned to us by the Estate of Michael Jackson. The items come to us from some of Michael Jackson's family members and friends who he gave them to when he was alive," Julien told the Hong Kong English daily.
"We would never and have never done anything that would hurt them [the Jacksons] or that they would not be supportive of. Brian Oxman on the other hand is only concerned for himself," he told the Post.
Jackson last year authorised Julien's to hold a sale of more than 1,300 items taken from his sprawling Neverland Ranch in California, which the singer left and never returned to following his acquittal on child abuse charges in 2005.
But the auction was scrapped after a settlement had been reached between Julien's and Jackson's lawyers shortly before the 50-year-old eccentric pop star passed away in June last year.
The auction house said at the time that they believed the sentimental reaction of Jackson's fans following news of the dispersal of the Neverland collection had made the singer think twice about going ahead with the sale.

The uproar sparked by a German central banker's remarks about Jews and Muslims could muddy the waters for Bundesbank chief Axel Weber's bid to become head of the European Central Bank, commentators say.
Analysts believe the controversy is a fleeting issue for Weber however, and some say he might have done himself more harm in May with outspoken criticism of ECB purchases of public debt as part of a European Union (EU) rescue plan.
In the end, Weber's chances of getting the top ECB job probably depend on staunch backing from the German government, and that might have been reinforced by his handling of the "Sarrazin affair."
On Thursday, Weber and the Bundesbank board called for the dismissal of Thilo Sarrazin, a Bundesbank director who claims Muslim immigration and a high birth rate among Germany's Turkish residents will undermine Europe's biggest economy.
Sarrazin, who has just published a book, also told an interviewer that "Jews Share a certain gene," reviving the spectre of claims used to justify their persecution by the Nazis.
Only Germany's president can dismiss a central bank board member however, and Christian Wulff seems set to take the unprecedented action following the bank's recommendation.
Sarrazin has made provocative remarks about immigrants in the past and has fueled an impassioned debate on German attempts to integrate minorities.
"A raw nerve has been touched. There is a lot of social psychology involved here," said Irwin Collier, an economics professor at the Free University in Berlin.
Some speculate about the affair's affect on Weber, 53, a leading candidate to become ECB president when Jean-Claude Trichet steps down in October 2011.
"Weber has not performed well on the matter -- the turbulence has revealed his lack of political feel," the business daily Handelsblatt said.
"Weber seems passive and driven by recommendations from politicians," the Financial Times Deutschland added.
Trichet and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both expressed confidence however in Weber's independence and ability to manage the situation.
"He has done as people would have expected," Barclays Capital economist Thorsten Polleit said after the Bundesbank decided to recommend Sarrazin's dismissal.
"The government's backing will not have changed after this decision, rather the contrary," ING senior economist Carsten Brzeski told AFP.
"Weber clearly knows that his stock depends on the favour of Angela Merkel and the present government," Collier added.
Merkel has not sought high EU posts for German candidates and many feel she has reserved political capital for Weber's ECB bid.
The next president will be chosen by eurozone heads of state in a few months and with Germany's economy acting as a locomotive for the rest of the 16-nation bloc, Weber's chances would also appear to be on track.
Foreign reaction to the Sarrazin controversy has not laid blame on the Bundesbank president, "and I think that's what matters," Polleit told AFP.
"I think outside of Germany this has no further significance," Collier added.
In May however, Weber publicly criticized ECB purchases of government bonds in support of heavily indebted eurozone states, a rare move by a key governing council member that earned him sharp rebukes.
"It was probably counterproductive, that's for sure," Brzeski said.
But he added that Weber "is much more pragmatic" than many believe, and that by the time the ECB presidency is settled, "people will have forgotten" or at least have decided to forgive.
Jean Pisani-Ferry, director of the Breugel research institute in Brussels, was not sure all will be forgotten but was also not convinced Weber's action "will weigh decisively in the decision."
A key factor will be France, which Brzeski said could face deteriorating public finances next year and might "want to keep the Germans as friends."
"I hear the criticism but simply given the political forces I would still think that it's going to be Weber" at the head of the ECB, he concluded.

Brussels should be able to reach agreement on how to regulate speculative hedge funds in the coming weeks, European commissioner Michel Barnier said Saturday.
"We are in the home straight," Internal Markets Commissioner Barnier told reporters at an economic forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy.
"I am hopeful that in the coming weeks we will get an agreement on this regulation of hedge funds and private equity, which on certain days account for half the trading on the markets," he added.
He hoped that the European Parliament and the European Council, which comprises the leaders of member states and the top European Commission officials, would be able to finish the job after a breakthrough last week.
Barnier announced on Thursday that EU states, the European Commission and European lawmakers had reached a deal in principle to establish three agencies to oversee banks, insurers and the markets.
This is subject to the approval of EU finance ministers, who meet in Brussels on Tuesday and the European Parliament later this month.
"A lot of work has been done," said Barnier, although there were still a few sticking points, such as how to treat countries outside the EU region.
Europe is lagging behind the United States in efforts to regulate the financial sector as President Barack Obama signed into law in July the most sweeping reform of Wall Street since the 1930s.
In May, the EU agreed new curbs on the trillion-dollar hedge fund industry despite stiff opposition from Britain, home to 80 percent of Europe's hedge fund industry.
Germany and the Netherlands in particular have led the charge against the trading, which has been blamed for speculative attacks, in particular on currencies, that have led to sharp drops in the markets.
Another issue had been their lack of transparency and what critics see as their willingness to take financial risks with large sums of money in the search for short-term gains.
Hedge funds lost some of their lustre during the economic downturn, but still handled between 1.2 trillion and 1.3 trillion dollars worldwide in 2009.

Branches of Afghanistan's biggest private bank were crowded Saturday with government employees queuing to be paid and customers wanting to withdraw their money following corruption allegations.
Kabul Bank has been the subject of US newspaper reports alleging large-scale corruption by executives, though the government and central bank have said it is solvent and there is no need for customers to panic.
Banks were closed on Friday for the weekly holiday, providing respite after a day of mild panic following the reports, which saw the Washington Post say the Kabul Bank had been taken over by the central bank.
The governor of Afghanistan's central bank, Adbul Qadir Fitrat, said the bank had not been taken over and along with the finance minister reassured depositors their money was safe.
US newspapers, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, reported on Wednesday that the central bank had replaced the bank's two top executives -- chief executive Khalilullah Ferozi and chairman Sher Khan Farnud -- and ordered Farnud to hand over 160 million dollars' worth of luxury property purchased in Dubai for himself and for cronies.
Fitrat denied the reports, saying the men had resigned voluntarily as new regulations no longer permitted shareholders to hold executive positions.
Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhailwal reassured Kabul Bank customers the institution was solvent, saying the administration of President Hamid Karzai gave its full backing and cash was being delivered to branches nationwide.
He said 100 million dollars had been deposited in the bank to cover government salaries, which were due to be paid Saturday.
Many people crowding into Kabul Bank branches in the capital and the northern commercial city of Mazar-I-Sharif on Saturday wished to withdraw money ahead of the upcoming Eid holiday, when Muslims buy gifts, clothes and special foods to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Mohammad, a 35-year-old doctor, said he came to withdraw 800 dollars from his savings of 2,500 dollars at Kabul Bank's main branch in the capital "because Eid is approaching and I need the cash".
"I don't believe the bank will go bankrupt," he said.
Gul Mohammad, another customer at the head office, said he wanted to close his account, and planned to withdraw his 5,000 dollars.
"I heard the government say the problems will be solved but I am still suspicious," he told AFP.
The Washington Post said on Friday that the US Treasury Department had despatched a team to Kabul to help deal with the crisis, and said that a brother of the president had called for Washington's intervention.
The US embassy did not answer queries.
In Mazar-I-Sharif, Kabul Bank branches were crowded with government employees waiting for their pay, an AFP reporter said.
Many also wanted to make withdrawals in case of solvency problems, with one man, Mahommad Shafi, saying he was planning to empty his account of 600,000 dollars.
"I've been here three times since Thursday because the bank won't give it to me all at once," he said.
The US newspaper reports said a cash crisis at the bank could undermine the stability of Afghanistan's financial system, and the effort to quell a nine-year-old Taliban-led insurgency.
In a report Saturday, the Washington Post quoted Ferozi as saying he had warned Afghan officials that a change of senior bank personnel could be destabilising.
"I was saying, 'You have to be very cautious and careful about these changes'," it quoted him as saying. "This didn't take place, and when I resigned, people started panicking."
Finance ministry spokesman Aziz Shams told AFP: "A change in the leadership of the bank is a normal thing. The government of Afghanistan has always supported the private sector, including private banks.
"People are always chasing rumours and speculation," he said, referring to the reports.
"There is no real problem in this bank. We support the bank and we are not concerned that it will collapse."
In the main southern city of Kandahar, branches of Kabul Bank were also crowded with customers hoping to withdraw their savings.
"I didn't sleep all last night," said 35-year-old Mohammad Nadir. "I have 10,000 dollars in the bank, it is everything I have.
"I've come to get it out but I'm not sure I will be able to because there are so many people here," he said.
strs-lod/mmg/mtp

World tourism rebounded strongly this year from the global financial crisis, led by Asia and the Middle East, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) said Friday.
But the Madrid-based body also urged caution, noting that some major developed nations have not yet fully emerged from the economic doldrums.
International tourist arrivals totaled 421 million in the first six months of 2010, up 7.0 percent on last year but still 2.0 percent below the record year of 2008, the UNWTO said in a report.
The results follow "one of the toughest years for the tourism sector" in 2009, when tourist arrivals declined by 4.2 percent following the global financial meltdown.
It noted that growth was modest in April due the closure of European airspace following the eruption of the volcano in Iceland, but results were strong in May and June.
"Growth was positive in all world regions, led by a robust performance of emerging economies, expanding at 8.0 percent compared to 6.0 percent in advanced economies."
Asia and the Pacific, where tourist arrivals were up 14 percent, and the Middle East, where the figure was 20 percent, "continue to lead growth in the first half of 2010 with the majority of destinations in both regions posting double digit growth rates.
"Asia in particular is experiencing a very dynamic rebound," it said, noting strong results in particular from Sri Lanka, Japan, Vietnam, Myanmar and Hong Kong.
Tourism in the Americas was up 7.0 percent, and Europe 2.0 percent.
But UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai warned that "although we are witnessing a clear recovery in international tourism, we must remain cautious."
"In many advanced economies, namely in the USA and in some major European markets, economic recovery has still to consolidate," he was quoted as saying in a UNWTO statement.
"To this we must add the recent introduction and increase in taxation, most specifically those which directly impact the tourism sector, such as air transport taxes."
For the whole of 2010, the body maintained its forecast of 3.0 to 4.0 percent growth in international tourism.
"Current growth rates, coupled with an improving global economic environment suggest that end-year results are likely to be closer to 4.0 percent, and may even exceed this figure.
"However, high unemployment continues to be a major cause of concern and the austerity measures as well as the rise in taxation implemented in several advanced economies to fight public deficits represent a clear challenge to many leading outbound markets."

Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan are facing a "financial crisis" as NATO-led troops have disrupted the center of their lucrative opium trade, a top US general said on Thursday.
With drug labs and supply routes under growing pressure, the insurgents have less than half the cash they had a year ago, said Major General Richard Mills, who leads coalition troops in Helmand province, the key poppy-growing region for the Taliban.
"We have intelligence that indicates to us he has a financial crisis on his hands, he has a cash flow problem," Mills said of the Taliban.
Since a mostly American force pushed back the Taliban in the Marjah area of Helmand in February and targeted the militants' opium "treasury," the insurgents had less money to resupply fighters, buy explosives and attract new recruits, he told reporters by video link from Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province.
"We believe that the local insurgency here within the province has less than one half of what they had last year in operating funds," said Mills, citing "sensitive intelligence" reports.
A blight on the poppy harvest this year, along with efforts by local Afghan authorities to offer farmers alternative crops, had also helped undermine the Taliban's opium profits, the general said.
He said coalition and local forces were making steady progress in Marjah and across Helmand province, and that the Afghan army and police soon could be ready to take over security duties in some districts.
"I do believe in the coming months ahead there will be areas in which we can turn over a significant portion of the security to them for their execution," Mills said.
He cited the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, and Nawa and Garmshir as towns where Afghan forces could gradually take on more responsibility from foreign troops.
The allied strategy in the war hinges on building up Afghan army and police units so that they can take over from foreign troops, with President Barack Obama promising to begin pulling out some US forces by July 2011.
Violence has spiked in southern and eastern Afghanistan with US and coalition troops suffering record casualties over the summer.
A total of 326 US soldiers have been killed in the Afghan war in 2010, compared with 317 for all of 2009, according to AFP figures based on the independent icasualties.org website.
The number of international troops killed in Afghanistan so far in 2010 stands at 493, not far off the 2009 total of 521.
The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, has said coalition troops have seized the initiative against the Islamist insurgents.
The United States and NATO are building up their troop numbers in Afghanistan to almost 150,000, with Obama's surge of an additional 30,000 soldiers almost complete

The European Central Bank on Thursday published its latest forecasts for inflation and growth in the euro area.
The following is a table of the ECB's projections, which it releases each quarter. The figures are expressed as percentage changes.
A midpoint value of a range is used in AFP stories to clarify the bank's forecasts, and the previous forecast from June is in parenthesis.
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The European Central Bank on Thursday raised its growth and inflation forecasts for the 16-nation eurozone, with the economy now expected to expand 1.6 percent this year and 1.4 percent in 2011.
In June, the ECB had forecast growth at 1.0 percent in 2010 and 1.2 percent in 2011.
ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet noted that "recent economic data for the euro area have been stronger than expected, partly owing to temporary factors.
"Looking ahead, the recovery should proceed at a moderate pace, with uncertainty still prevailing."
Earlier Thursday, the European Union reported second quarter eurozone growth of 1.0 percent, compared to quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.4 percent in the United States and 0.1 percent in Japan.
The ECB also revised its inflation forecasts for the eurozone to 1.6 percent in 2010, from 1.5 percent previously, and to 1.7 percent in 2011, from 1.6 percent.
The new estimates remained well below the ECB's medium-term inflation target of just under 2.0 percent.
ECB policymakers meanwhile left the bank's Benchmark interest rate a record low 1.0 percent, as was widely expected.