In a three-pronged approach, control over combat operations, Afghan military and police training and civilian reconstruction efforts, will be centralised, with US Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal overseeing the effort.

However the three missions will be given separate command structures to avoid any overlap.

McChrystal's deputy US Lieutenant General David Rodriguez would coordinate the fight against the insurgents, who are still thwarting NATO-led efforts to rebuild conflict-torn Afghanistan more than seven years after the Taliban were ousted.

"There is a real US desire to re-organise the command in Afghanistan," a NATO officer said, on condition of anonymity. "They want to separate these three functions. That's what is on the table."

"General McChrystal insists that those who are conducting the war, in the real sense of the term, do not mix with those in charge of training, or stabilisation and reconstruction efforts," he said.

The move, to be debated by NATO defence ministers Friday, accompanies a change of US strategy in Afghanistan, combining a civilian surge with a flood of troops into the southern strongholds of the Taliban and its backers.

It would see control of combat operations in the five zones -- four at each point of the compass and one in Kabul -- centralised in the Afghan capital to ensure that forces from more than 40 nations are pulling in the same direction.

The command would "deal with day to day regional command operations, coordinate the regional command efforts," a US official said, allowing officers to focus on "deconflicting issues with resources".

It would improve the supervision of missions, a growing concern among diplomats as civilian casualties from air strikes, mainly conducted by US warplanes, badly undermine the NATO and US-led enterprise to bring stability.

The changes would not see European forces come under direct US command, which would in any case prove impossible as capitals insist on control over their forces and imposing conditions on their use.

On the reconstruction side, efforts have proved unbalanced and disjointed, with international civilian-military rebuilding teams often working out of synch or, worse, at cross purposes with the Afghan government.

Meanwhile if foreign troops are ever to leave the country, training of the Afghan army and police -- set to grow significantly in coming months -- must be stepped up.

"Ultimately, the Afghan people will shoulder the responsibility for their own security, so we must accelerate our training of their security forces," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told senators Tuesday.

But if "Afghanisation" is the exit strategy, there has been an undeniable "Americanisation" of the international enterprise, which has concerned officials at the 28-country NATO military alliance.

Around 21,000 extra US troops are being deployed as Washington's focus shifts from Iraq, but European contributions have stalled ahead of the polls, seen as a litmus test of NATO's goal to foster stability and democracy.

Indeed NATO wants the Europeans to keep on contingents being deployed to watch over the elections to counter-vail the increase in US forces, which account for well over half the foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"We don't want to see an imbalance in the mission," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters Tuesday.

"It is equitable burden sharing for not just the Americans to increase but also the others, either militarily and/or on the civilian side, with personnel or with money," he said.

earlier related report
Gates to focus on Afghan war at NATO talks
As forces pour into Afghanistan to secure elections in August, US generals plan to streamline the way the battle against Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgents is fought, NATO officials and officers say.

In a three-pronged approach, control over combat operations, Afghan military and police training and civilian reconstruction efforts, will be centralised, with US Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal overseeing the effort.

However the three missions will be given separate command structures to avoid any overlap.

McChrystal's deputy US Lieutenant General David Rodriguez would coordinate the fight against the insurgents, who are still thwarting NATO-led efforts to rebuild conflict-torn Afghanistan more than seven years after the Taliban were ousted.

"There is a real US desire to re-organise the command in Afghanistan," a NATO officer said, on condition of anonymity. "They want to separate these three functions. That's what is on the table."

"General McChrystal insists that those who are conducting the war, in the real sense of the term, do not mix with those in charge of training, or stabilisation and reconstruction efforts," he said.

The move, to be debated by NATO defence ministers Friday, accompanies a change of US strategy in Afghanistan, combining a civilian surge with a flood of troops into the southern strongholds of the Taliban and its backers.

It would see control of combat operations in the five zones -- four at each point of the compass and one in Kabul -- centralised in the Afghan capital to ensure that forces from more than 40 nations are pulling in the same direction.

The command would "deal with day to day regional command operations, coordinate the regional command efforts," a US official said, allowing officers to focus on "deconflicting issues with resources".

It would improve the supervision of missions, a growing concern among diplomats as civilian casualties from air strikes, mainly conducted by US warplanes, badly undermine the NATO and US-led enterprise to bring stability.

The changes would not see European forces come under direct US command, which would in any case prove impossible as capitals insist on control over their forces and imposing conditions on their use.

On the reconstruction side, efforts have proved unbalanced and disjointed, with international civilian-military rebuilding teams often working out of synch or, worse, at cross purposes with the Afghan government.

Meanwhile if foreign troops are ever to leave the country, training of the Afghan army and police -- set to grow significantly in coming months -- must be stepped up.

"Ultimately, the Afghan people will shoulder the responsibility for their own security, so we must accelerate our training of their security forces," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told senators Tuesday.

But if "Afghanisation" is the exit strategy, there has been an undeniable "Americanisation" of the international enterprise, which has concerned officials at the 28-country NATO military alliance.

Around 21,000 extra US troops are being deployed as Washington's focus shifts from Iraq, but European contributions have stalled ahead of the polls, seen as a litmus test of NATO's goal to foster stability and democracy.

Indeed NATO wants the Europeans to keep on contingents being deployed to watch over the elections to counter-vail the increase in US forces, which account for well over half the foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"We don't want to see an imbalance in the mission," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters Tuesday.

"It is equitable burden sharing for not just the Americans to increase but also the others, either militarily and/or on the civilian side, with personnel or with money," he said.

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