Nato Countries Must Live Up to Pledges on Troops, Says Blair

The battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan is "winnable", Tony Blair declared today, as Nato allies pledged extra forces and greater flexibility in deploying troops to combat zones.

But after two days of talks at the summit in Riga, the prime minister complained that there were still "gaps" in Nato deployment and warned member states - notably France and Germany - that they had to live up to their pledges to let their troops be used in conflict areas.

There was some initial confusion over the exact number of the 32,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan now not subject to the so-called "national caveats" which restrict their deployment.

As Nato leaders posed for their farewell "family photo" in the Latvian capital, Mr Blair told reporters that "everyone accepts that this is Nato's absolutely critical mission".

Mr Blair welcomed promises by some member states such as France and Germany to ease their so-called "national caveats" restricting when and where their forces could operate.

But he emphasised that it was essential that those commitments were now fully honoured.

"It is important that we make sure the reality lives up to the rhetoric," he said.

Nato leaders were told by Nato's supreme allied commander, Gen James Jones, that he now had 85% of the capabilities that he was looking for.

Spain, Bulgaria and Macedonia have pledged small numbers of extra troops in addition to the 1,000 already promised by Poland.

But it was clear that the issue of the caveats - which has been a source of growing tension within the alliance - still has to be fully resolved.

Countries such as Britain, the US and Canada, which have borne the brunt of the fighting in recent months, have been pressing other member states to lift them so they can play a full part in the mission.

But despite some easing, significant restrictions still remain.

France has said that it will now allow its forces to operate beyond the capital, Kabul, while Germany has said that in emergencies its troops can go to the assistance of other Nato forces outside its area of operations in the largely peaceful north of the country.

Other countries with smaller contingents, such as the Czechs, the Danes, the Hungarians, the Lithuanians and the Slovenians, have also agreed to lift some of the restrictions on their forces.

Only the Dutch and the Romanians agreed to drop their caveats altogether.

Mr Blair, who has been under pressure from the Tories to secure more Nato involvement, said: "In the end it is a question of making sure that the gap in forces and equipment is made up.

"We have come some way. Have we got everything we wanted? Not yet, but we have made considerable progress. There's a considerable amount of optimism."

Mr Blair will miss today's session of prime minister's question time due to the summit.

George Bush, the US president, who was at the summit, now flies on to Jordan and the Middle East.

At the traditional end-of-summit photo of world leaders, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Mr Bush were centre-stage, while Mr Blair was at one end of the picture, next to the Polish prime minister, Jaros³aw Kaczynski.