Downer to attend UK talks on Afghanistan

Australia will take part in a top-level summit in London this week where the international community is expected to lay out plans for future support of Afghanistan.

The December 4 meeting will be attended by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other top diplomats including US Secretary of State John Kerry and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Australia will be represented by High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Alexander Downer.

A US State Department official was quoted in US reports as saying the London conference would be "a platform for the government of Afghanistan to set out its vision for reform and for the international community to demonstrate enduring support for Afghanistan".

Meanwhile, aid organisation Oxfam has called on Australia to use the summit to confirm it will continue to support gains made in rights for Afghan women.

Oxfam Australia's humanitarian advocacy spokesperson Stephanie Cousins said the assistance Australia was providing in Afghanistan has contributed to some important gains for women, including improving literacy rates.

"It would be a tragedy if this progress was reversed, and this is a real threat if women are not given a seat at the peace table," she said.

Ms Cousins also called for support for efforts to ensure Afghan women were represented in formal talks about the country's future, saying they had consistently been left out of peace negotiations.