De Hoop Scheffer also said that the United Nations should provide a mandate for a stabilisation force for Iraq under a sovereign government.

"If both elements are met, the (NATO) alliance will approach this question with a very positive attitude," said the NATO chief after holding talks in Warsaw with Prime Minister Leszek Miller.

"After July 1, it is up to the sovereign Iraqi government to decide," said De Hoop Scheffer, in reference to a decision to ask NATO to send troops.

The United States has set a date of June 30 to formally end the occupation of Iraq and hand over power to a sovereign government, although it will retain a military presence in the country.

Poland heads a multinational force of 9,000 troops patrolling southern and central Iraq. It hopes to hand over command of the force to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation next year.

"Poland hopes that Polish soldiers will be able to return to their country as soon as possible but the Iraqi government must first be formed and decide when the presence of foreign troops on its territory is no longer necessary," said Miller.

De Hoop Scheffer said he hoped Poland would "be able to stay in Iraq".

Poland commands a force comprising Spanish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Latin American troops.

"The number one priority on our agenda is Afghanistan. I have said it before and I will say it again -- if we want to win the war on terrorism, we must win the peace in Afghanistan," said De Hoop Sheffer.

He said that in order for this to happen there needed to be greater cooperation between NATO countries.

"I want all allies to pull their weight to carry on with the necessary defence reforms. We are facing a real shortfall in useable, deployable troops to meet our current political commitments, let alone any future ones," he said.

Aside from the enlargement of NATO, which in April is due to welcome seven new members -- Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Slovenia -- De Hoop Scheffer also underlined the need for partnerships, including one with the European Union.

"Let me be absolutely clear -- the EU must become a strategic actor. You cannot have European integration at all levels, yet keep security totally excluded from it, he said.

"A Europe which aspires to have a common foreign and security policy must inevitably develop a military instrument as well or its foreign policy will lack credibility".

He also said NATO and the EU would need to have a close relationship if they were to tackle quickly the spiralling problems in what he called the "Greater Middle East".

The United States has put forward a "Greater Middle East Initiative" which it hopes will encourage democratic reform and economic change in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. But the plan has met with suspicion from Arab states.

"More and more we realise that if the problems in this region are left to fester, we may pay a terrible price," De Hoop Scheffer said.

"I am confident that at our summit in Istanbul in late June, we will be able to give a clear signal with respect to NATOs contribution to this effort."

The NATO summit is scheduled to take place in the Turkish city of Istanbul on June 28-29.

WAR.WIRE