Thierry Mariani, Sarkozy's special representative dealing with the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, told AFP that US President Barack Obama had asked his NATO allies to provide 10,000 more troops for the war effort.

"Today, we're ruling out sending ground combat forces," he said. "We could send extra troops to train the Afghan police and army... Our extra effort could take several forms."

The French daily Le Monde has reported that for his new war strategy, due to be formally revealed later Tuesday, Obama has asked France to add 1,500 troops to the 3,300 it already has on the ground.

Mariani confirmed that 1,500 "is one of the numbers that is being put about" but stressed that France would have to consult with its European allies and would "take several weeks to give its response."

"Barack Obama took four months to define his new strategy, it's not abnormal that France takes a few weeks before responding," he said, suggesting France might make an announcement at a summit in London on January 28.

According to the Le Monde report, among the 10,000 fresh troops Obama has asked his allies to provide, there would be 1,500 from France, 2,000 from Germany, 1,500 from Italy and 1,000 from Britain.

Britain has already agreed to send 500 more and Italy has said it will increase its force without saying by how many, but so far Germany and France have seemed reluctant to reinforce their presence.

Le Monde quoted a member of Sarkozy's staff as saying: "We're not saying no to Obama.

"We applaud the approach that he's preparing to announce and we'll take part in the January 28 conference in London to see what the Afghans are ready to contribute," the unnamed aide said.

"We'll see what we can do to complete, if necessary, our presence, notably in terms of training," he added.

London will host a major summit on Afghanistan at the end next month, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown hopes to bring together all the major allies and Afghan officials to review progress in the fight.

Earlier, French Defence Minister Herve Morin said: "The United States is asking the Europeans for more troops.

"If there were to be an additional effort, the only effort that would make sense would be in terms of Afghan army and police training," said Morin.

"There cannot simply be a military response," he stressed. "For us, building Afghan institutions is a key component of an exit strategy."

Obama was expected to announce at least 30,000 US reinforcements. The White House said Monday that Obama had called Sarkozy to update him on the plans.

France already has 3,750 soldiers attached to the campaign, 3,400 of them in Afghanistan itself -- some attached to the NATO mission and some under US command -- and is the fourth largest contributor to the western force.

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