US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in talks with NATO defence ministers in the Netherlands, urged European allies whose forces are deployed away from more dangerous regions to help share the burden of the fighting, officials said.

The calls came after US General Dan McNeill, the commander of the 37-nation International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, updated the ministers on commanders' needs.

"Gates made a very strong push, which was joined by a number of other allies to meet McNeill's call for more manouevre forces, more enablers especially helicopters and fixed wing aircraft," said a senior US official.

He also called for countries to provide military trainers to embed with the fledgling Afghan army and fight alongside them if necessary, the official said.

"There was a unanimous view in the room that we are going to be in Afghanistan for the long term," she added.

ISAF is trying to spread the influence of President Hamid Karzai's weak central government across the country and encourage rebuilding.

But it has faced stiff resistance, notably in the south and east of the strife-torn country, from Taliban-led insurgents, and civilian and military casualties have begun to wear away at public support for the mission.

A survey in Canada in August showed that solid majorities of people in Britain, France, Germany and Italy thought the ISAF-mission was a failure, while almost one in two Canadians agreed.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was at pains to point out at that the talks, in the coastal town of Noordwijk, were not aimed at generating forces but that a meeting to do so would take place in November.

"I have heard offers, I have noticed offers from nations including for the southern part of Afghanistan, so I hope that will be followed up," he said.

"We have not completely filled what our military advise us on the forces that we need," he told reporters, but added: "No need to use words like crises."

Germany has often come under the spotlight for resisting moves, for which it would need parliamentary approval anyway, to redeploy away from the relatively stable north of the country and play a greater combat role.

But German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung underlined that reconstruction work was just as important as fighting insurgents, and suggested that Berlin's stance is unlikely to change.

"There are 3,200 soldiers in northern Afghanistan and in the south there are 30,000 soldiers. It would be a great error if Germany didn't assume its responsibilities in Afghanistan," he told reporters.

"The north must remain our prime focus."

However a NATO diplomat said that nine countries had come forward with offers, although he declined to identify them.

France said that it would for the first time send dozens of military trainers to the south of Afghanistan, where much of the heaviest fighting has been taking place, according to a defence ministry official.

The trainers, expected to total around 50, will be embedded with fledgling Afghan army troops in the southern province of Oruzgan, where some 1,700 Dutch troops are based.

NATO has formed some 20 so-called Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTS) in Afghanistan, in which ISAF troops serve alongside Afghan soldiers.

The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that such trainers were the key to the alliance being able to hand over security duties and leave the country sooner.

"We have to provide training now to be able to move forward to the next phase," he said.

earlier related report
NATO chief to float troop rotation idea for Afghanistan
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Wednesday that he would float the idea of rotating forces in dangerous parts of Afghanistan during talks with allied defence ministers.

"If you look at the necessity for political, military and financial solidarity in Afghanistan, I do think that at a certain stage I would like to see more rotation in Afghanistan," he told reporters in the Netherlands.

"I'll not table a rotation plan, I'll mention it and I hope that me mentioning it and possibly ministers discussing this will have some impact," he said, ahead of NATO defence ministers talks in the coastal town of Noordwijk.

"This is not a plan for the immediate future. This is talking about the longer run and a longer time-frame," Scheffer, a former Dutch foreign minister, underlined.

US, British, Canadian and Dutch troops are bearing most of the burden of fighting a tenacious Taliban-led insurgency in the south and east of strife-torn Afghanistan.

Commanders with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have requested more combat troops and aircraft, above all helicopters, to confront the Taliban but many allies are unwilling to deploy to the most dangerous areas.

A NATO official explained that a rotation system, unlikely to be tried for a year even if agreed upon, would allow countries to better plan their future troop movements and encourage allies to stay in Afghanistan longer.

ISAF's mission is to spread the influence of Afghanistan's weak central government throughout the country, but it is being undermined by military and civilian casualties, as well as the slow pace of reconstruction.

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