More allies could help against Taliban - NATO chief

LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday he was disappointed some members of the alliance would not send troops to fight Taliban guerrillas in the south of Afghanistan.

Speaking at a dinner in London's financial district, de Hoop Scheffer said NATO members could show more solidarity and that he would "applaud" France if it ever decided to rejoin the alliance's integrated military structures.

"I'm disappointed ... that not all the allies, and some major allies included, do not want to go to the places where the fighting is -- although they also suffer from improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks," he said.

Britain provides much of the NATO force fighting the Taliban in the restive southern provinces of Afghanistan, with soldiers from Canada, the Netherlands and the United States.

Violence has surged in the past 19 months, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001.

About 50,000 troops under the command of NATO and the United States are hunting Taliban rebels and their al Qaeda allies.

Britain has been pressing other NATO members to send more soldiers to fight in the south. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called this week for other countries to share the burden.

"Yes, it is true that more nations could join the operations also in the south. I say this with the greatest respect for all the 26 allies ... that are active in Afghanistan," de Hoop Scheffer said.

He said the only long-term hope for Afghanistan was successful reconstruction and development, but that could take generations and a military presence there now was essential.

Losing the fight in Afghanistan would allow the Taliban and the Islamists of al Qaeda to gain power and increase the chance of more terrorist attacks in Western nations, he said.

"I do not see any serious alternative for the military presence of NATO forces under a UN mandate in Afghanistan." FRANCE BACK IN THE FOLD? Asked how important he believed it would be to bring France back into the NATO fold he said: "Very important. But it is a decision which is up to the French, up to the French government, the French president." France pulled out of NATO's integrated military structure in 1966. While it rejoined NATO's military command in 1993 it remains outside the formal integrated structure.

De Hoop Scheffer said comments by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week to French ambassadors about the country's relationship with NATO were "very interesting" and "remarkable".

Sarkozy said there should be no competition between European defence alliances and NATO and that it was the duty of France and NATO to step up efforts in Afghanistan as part of the fight against the spread of Islamist terrorism.

"I do think that there is all kind of room for a very constructive dialogue with the French. Reintegration, coming back into the structures is really something for the French to decide," de Hoop Scheffer said.

"Again, I cannot deny that I would of course applaud such a decision but I cannot influence the timelines." REUTERS PBB RN0743