Brussels:  NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer travels to Rome tomorrow to sound out Italy on exactly how it plans to use its troops in future in Afghanistan, his spokesman said.

Scheffer will hold talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, President Giorgio Napolitano, Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa and other senior officials.

The visit comes after Italy announced it would free up the use of its troops in Afghanistan by cutting caveats, or conditions on their use, including slashing their response time from about three days to five or six hours.

"The general intent of relaxing caveats, reducing restrictions, is clearly welcome," spokesman James Appathurai told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"It will be up to the Italians to define what it is that they want to do and when they want to do it," he said.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan comprises almost 53,000 troops from 40 nations. Its aim is to spread the rule of the central government and foster reconstruction.

But it is struggling to deal with a tenacious Taliban-led insurgency, despite the efforts of tens of thousands of Afghan and international soldiers, notably in the east and south of the strife-torn country.

ISAF commanders frequently call for more troops in those regions.

Italy has some 2,500 soldiers based in the capital Kabul and the relatively quiet Herat region in the west of Afghanistan.

Source : PTI