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NATO to add troops in Afghanistan

BRUSSELS - NATO foreign ministers approved plans Thursday to send as many as 6,000 troops into southern Afghanistan, a major expansion of the alliance's peacekeeping mission into a dangerous part of the country.

The deployment next year of mostly European and Canadian troops will free up U.S. forces to focus on counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan's volatile south and east.

NATO's expansion should allow the United States to scale back its about 18,000-strong military presence almost five years after it invaded the country following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. The Pentagon, however, has yet to say how many troops it will withdraw.

The plans give the NATO peacekeepers a stronger self-defense mandate, guarantee support from U.S. combat troops if they face a serious attack and set out rules for handling detainees - all issues that have concerned some European allies mulling participation in the expanded force.

Ministers also agreed to a request from Afghan President Hamid Karzai for increased support in developing his country's security forces and the Defense Ministry.

The military expansion will take NATO's peacekeeping mission to about 16,000 and make it responsible for security in about three-quarters of the country.

The extra NATO troops are scheduled to start moving into southern Afghanistan around May. Britain will play a lead role in the region. NATO units led by troops from Canada, the Netherlands, Britain and the United States are expected to fan out into four southern provinces. Germany will lead NATO forces in the north and Italy in the west.

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 01:20:12]