Nato Pledge for Afghanistan

Nato pledged yesterday to increase the number of its peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan to 10,000 to strengthen security beyond Kabul and safeguard elections in September which are a test of the alliance's battered credibility.

Leaders meeting at the Istanbul summit tried to move out of the shadow of the Iraqi handover of sovereignty to trumpet their decision to reinforce the Isaf mission in Afghanistan, a "key priority" for Nato.

The extra troops will be deployed to four northern Afghan cities and strengthen military-civilian "provincial reconstruction teams".

However, the Afghan government said that forces were urgently needed in the south and east. On Friday Taliban fighters killed 16 people in a southern province after finding them with voter registration cards. Attacks over the weekend killed two poll workers in Jalalabad and seven police officers in the western province of Farah.

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, is due in Istanbul today to tell Nato leaders of the urgency of the task. Bilateral talks are scheduled with Tony Blair.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato's secretary general, has complained since taking office in January that the 26 allies have been too slow to provide specialised units, helicopters and other equipment for Afghanistan.

Contributions for the reinforced mission have yet to be determined, but Mr de Hoop Scheffer promised yesterday: "We have made a commitment to help. We will meet it, we will play our part."

Human Rights Watch says that "foot-dragging" has exacerbated violence and stalled reconstruction, and Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, has said the September elections might have to be postponed if security does not improve.

Nato's Isaf troops operate separately from the 20,000-strong contingent of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom, in the south of the country. It is sharply aware of the importance of the mission - its first outside Europe. The fear is that if it cannot deliver the Pentagon may conclude it has outlived its usefulness.

Yesterday's agreement, negotiated by ambassadors in Brussels over the past few weeks, means that Nato will set up and take command of four more provincial reconstruction teams in addition to one already operating under German command in the northern town of Kunduz.

The Netherlands announced separately that it would be doubling its military presence in Afghanistan.

In another summit development, Nato also agreed to turn its nine-year peacekeeping mission in Bosnia over to the EU by the end of the year. The 7,500-strong force will be the EU's most ambitious military operation to date.

Nato will maintain a presence to help the country with defence reforms, fight terrorism and keep up the hunt for fugitive war crimes suspects such as Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

The alliance also announced plans for closer cooperation on counter-terrorism, defence reform and military training with its seven Mediterranean and north African partners: Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania; and it launched an initiative to offer cooperation to other Middle East countries, including the Gulf states.