US wants NATO to take charge in Afghanistan

US and NATO forces * Current number of US troops in Afghanistan: 18,000 * The US forces are operating under Operation Enduring Freedom, which seeks to crush the remnants of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters * Number of NATO forces in the country: 9,000 * NATO troops are currently stationed mainly around Kabul and in the north, and are charged with peacekeeping and security duties

The US urged NATO countries yesterday to assume a bigger role in Afghanistan and to come up with a plan to take over all military operations there, possibly as early as next year.

Speaking before a meeting of NATO defense chiefs in Romania, the US ambassador to the alliance asked NATO to devise a blueprint by February to take over operations, now split between an 18,000-strong US force and NATO contingent half that size.

"Obviously we hope to see, at some point, integration of the NATO effort and Operation Enduring Freedom," Nicholas Burns said, with NATO taking control of the combined effort.

"It could be 2005. It could be 2006. It just depends on how things go," he told reporters.

Until now, the merger of forces was seen as a long-term goal and some NATO envoys expressed surprise at the timing of the call. Germany said it would object if it meant upgrading NATO's mandate from its current peacekeeping and security function.

"We are against a merger of the two mandates," Defense Minister Peter Struck told reporters, adding he doubted the German parliament would in any case approve such a move.

The US' Operation Enduring Freedom seeks to crush Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants and hunt down fugitives including Osama bin-Laden.

NATO has a 9,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force, focused on the capital Kabul and the north. But the credibility of NATO's mission has been undermined by allies' reluctance to come up with troops and equipment.

The 26-member alliance is nonetheless committed to expanding to the west as soon as possible and later on to more dangerous territory in the south.

Yet taking over US operations would be another challenge entirely given the reservations of some NATO nations to US policy in the fight against terror since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Some propose a compromise of having a unified force under one commander but split into two operations -- one involved in combat and the other in the nation-building tasks that NATO has been doing.

"You could still preserve the existing ISAF mandate. That is still compatible with greater synergy," said one senior NATO diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Burns did not specify what impact a force merger would have on US troop levels in Afghanistan, but said the US wants NATO to direct its military leaders to develop plans on how to unify the operations under the alliance, and present them at a NATO meeting in early February in Nice, France.

Defense chiefs at the talks in the Romanian ski resort of Poiana Brasov will also declare that a NATO quick-reaction force launched two years ago is now up and running with an initial 17,500 troops.