Canberra: Australia today demanded European nations provide more troops for Afghanistan, ignoring a plea from NATO's top civilian to avoid a public airing of views on the sensitive issue ahead of a review meeting this week.

NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned last week that criticism of Germany following its rejection of US demands for another 3,200 troops in Afghanistan was opening divisions in the alliance.

The best way, of course, to halt the public calls for more troops is to ensure that we get more troops, Australia's Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told local radio.

NATO is the lead in Afghanistan, it's a NATO initiative and the responsibility, of course, falls on Nato to ensure that we have the number of troops necessary to ensure we get long-term success in that country, he said.

Fitzgibbon is in Lithuania for an informal meeting of nations contributing to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, which comes amid Canadian threats to withdraw 2,500 troops in the south unless NATO allies lift their contribution.

Australia, a non-Nato member, is a close US ally and original member of the coalition which ousted the Taliban and has been critical of German, French and Italian refusal to send more troops south, where fighting has been most intense.

Canberra has sent 1,000 reconstruction and security troops to Afghanistan, including a force of SAS commandos helping Dutch forces battle Taliban militants in restive Oruzgan province.

The meeting of defence ministers in Vilnius will canvass progress in Afghanistan and Fitzgibbon will push for more integration of security, reconstruction and economic development efforts in the country's south.

Fitzgibbon said Canberra would not consider any more troops for Afghanistan until it had reassurance that NATO's 26 members and their partners were very, very serious about improvement in the country.

"We won't countenance any additional people or resources in Afghanistan until we see a clear, coherent, co-ordinated whole-of-government approach," he said.

Germany's government last week said it had no plans to reinforce the 3,500 troops it had deployed to Afghanistan's relatively peaceful north and criticised US demands for more forces as unhelpful.

Source : UNI