"I have made a plea to all nations to see that the still existing gaps in what we need should be filled very quickly," said the alliance secretary general, calling on "all nations... to do more."

"Afghanistan is the number one priority for the alliance," he added.

NATO, in its first misssion outside Europe, took command last August of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was set up in December 2001 weeks after the defeat of the hardline Taliban regime.

Its member states have agreed to expand the ISAF beyond the capital Kabul, notably by setting up provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs), one of which has just been established in the northern city of Kunduz.

But De Hoop Scheffer's predecessor George Robertson battled in his final months in office to drum up more contributions, before he ended his mandate in December.

The new Dutch NATO chief, speaking after talks in Brussels the alliance's special envoy to Afghanistan, Jean-Francois Arnault, said NATO's military chiefs were now drawing up detailed operational plans to establish alliance command of other PRTs.

Arnault added: "This is a time to take more ambitious steps towards restoring security," adding that the PRTs have proved "the best tool to expand the role and width of the central gouvernment...they can make a difference."

ISAF currently comprises some 6,000 men, while 10,500 US troops are in the country as part of Operation Enduring Freedom launched in 2001 after the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York to oust the fundamentalist Taliban regime.

The NATO chief declined to be drawn on how many more troops will be needed. "I do not wish to speculate about numbers," he said.

WAR.WIRE