Nato chief urges nations to train Afghan security forces

Brussels: Nato's military commander urged countries to provide more instructors to train Afghanistan's security forces, as national representatives met Monday to pledge additional troops to join the 30,000 reinforcements committed by President Barack Obama.

Officials from Nato's 28 member nations and 15 partner countries meeting at the alliance's military headquarters in Belgium, are expected to confirm last week's pledges made by allied nations for an additional 5,000 troops.

During a meeting of foreign ministers on Friday, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he also expected the allies to commit "several thousand" more troops by the time of an international conference in London in January, during which the allies will discuss the war effort and an eventual exit strategy with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

The Obama administration expects its allies in the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) to provide up to 10,000 additional troops.

Together with the 30,000 new US troops and Isaf's current 106,000 members, the international force would number over 140,000 by the middle of next year.

A "significant proportion" of the reinforcements are expected to be trainers for the expanding Afghan security forces, Nato military chief Admiral James Stavridis said on Monday.