Berlin: US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates has asked his German counterpart urging Berlin to send an additional 3,200 troops to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, a German defence ministry spokesman has said.

According to the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, Gates, in a letter last week, has asked Germany to drop caveats limiting its troops to the north of Afghanistan and send helicopter units, infantry and paratroopers to the more volatile south.

Thomas Raabe, a spokesman for German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung, confirmed the defence minister had received such a letter. Washington has sent similar letters to other NATO partners, he said.

The US is worried over security conditions in Afghanistan, especially in the south of the country where the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force are fighting the Taliban.

Gates sent letters to his NATO alliance counterparts ahead of an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Lithuania next month, where Afghanistan is to be discussed.

Germany currently has 3,000 troops serving in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan amid a rising outcry at home over the mission.

Source : IANS