NATO agrees fast takeover of all Afghan peacekeeping

PORTOROZ, Slovenia, Sep 28 (Reuters) NATO defence chiefs agreed today to assume command of peacekeeping across all of insurgency-hit Afghanistan next month despite some allies' concerns over tactics and troop shortfalls.

The final move into eastern Afghanistan will take effect quickly because it will largely involve placing under NATO command about 12,000, mostly US, forces already in the region, giving NATO commanders a greater pool of troops and equipment.

It will make the United States by far the largest contributor to NATO's Afghan force, providing 14,000 troops of a total 32,000. At present, European countries provide the bulk.

''They (NATO nations) agreed it would be in coming weeks,'' NATO spokesman James Appathurai said at a meeting of defence ministers in the Slovenian coastal resort of Portoroz.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was due to announce an exact date later.

The step was initially expected some time before the end of the year. Alliance officials said battles with resurgent guerrillas in the south showed a need to pool British, Dutch and Canadian troops under NATO with separate US forces.

Asked if the US soldiers could be used to bolster NATO efforts in the south that are suffering from troop and equipment shortfalls, Mr Appathurai said he knew of no limits imposed by Washington on where they could go.

''But that doesn't mean the shortfalls in the south don't have to be addressed,'' he told a news briefing.

Afghanistan is experiencing the most serious violence since hardline Taliban Islamists were removed in 2001, and NATO knows its credibility as a genuine fighting force is at stake in what is the toughest combat in its 57-year history.

Nearly 140 foreign troops, most of them American, British and Canadian, have been killed in fighting or accidents during operations since January, and NATO has acknowledged it underestimated the scale of Taliban resistance.

MORE TROOPS NEEDED The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) currently has just over 20,000 troops from 37 countries operating in the capital Kabul and the north, west and south.

The US-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) coalition has a similar number. Some U.S. forces will remain outside ISAF command to mount search-and-destroy missions against major Taliban and al Qaeda targets.

Germany raised doubts over NATO's strategy in Afghanistan, insisting it focus on providing security for reconstruction, which has been held up by fierce violence of recent weeks.

''People must see that we are not occupying forces but rather that we are there to help them,'' Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung told ZDF television.

Britain led calls at the talks for allies to respond quickly to a call by commanders for up to 2,500 extra troops, more helicopters and transport aircraft to help British, Canadian and Dutch troops in the thick of violence in the south.

Poland has offered 1,000 troops to be deployed by next February, and Romania is expected to offer a similar number.

Large western European nations including France, Germany, Italy and Spain have all declined to send troops to the south, saying their armed forces are at full stretch elsewhere.

REUTERS BDP RK2235