Nato supports Obama's plea

Brussels/Berlin : Nato nations may contribute up to 6,000 reinforcements in response to President Barack Obama's expected call for more than 30,000 US and allied troops for Afghanistan.

Obama is expected to make his announcement this week. Nato is planning to hold a force-generation conference on December 7 where allied nations can pledge reinforcements for their contingents.

A Nato official says he expects European and other nations to contribute between 4,000 and 7,000 fresh troops. The US-dominated international force currently numbers over 100,000 troops, with 41 Nato and other allied countries contributing about 36,000.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that more than a dozen nations have indicated they would respond to Obama's request.

Meanwhile, Germany's labour minister resigned yesterday after conceding that a military report on a deadly September airstrike in northern Afghanistan failed to reach him while he held the government's defence portfolio.

Labour Minister Franz Josef Jung made the announcement a day after the head of Germany's armed forces, General Wolfgang Schneiderhan, and Deputy Defence Minister Peter Wichert also stepped down.

Jung said he was taking responsibility for the fact that the German military report on the September 4 airstrike didn't reach him, despite his being defence minister at the time.

"I am taking responsibility for the Defence Ministry's internal information policy towards the minister regarding the events of September 4 in Kunduz," Jung said in a brief statement.

Confidential report

For days after the strike Jung said there was no evidence of civilian casualties from the strike, but Bild daily reported on Thursday that the military report — drawn up in the days after the attack — suggested civilians had died.

The newspaper did not say how it had learned of the contents of the confidential report.

An Afghan commission has said 30 civilians were killed along with 69 armed Taliban fighters in the Nato airstrike, which was called in by a German colonel who feared the Taliban might use two tanker trucks they had seized to attack troops.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday "there must be full transparency" over the incident.