"There's no way a country like Canada can carry the most dangerous combat mission for decades," Dion said.
No NATO member has previously offered to send a large force to the south. The US, which has 26,000 troops in Afghanistan, has said it will temporarily redeploy 3,200 from Iraq, 2,200 of which are headed to southern Afghanistan.
But the Pentagon said those troops should not be viewed as long-term reinforcements for Canada.
Meanwhile, Norway confirmed it would add to its 500 soldiers in Afghanistan next month with the deployment of special forces and helicopters, a total of 200 extra troops, Defense Minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen said.
Many European governments are under public pressure not to send their troops to the Afghan frontlines.
Some think it better to focus on reconstruction in the more stable areas rather than pursuing the insurgents; others say that their militaries are stretched elsewhere.
Afghanistan's Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, who joined the talks, said that the Afghan army was rapidly improving and was determined to beat the Taliban.
However, he appealed for NATO nations to give his troops better equipment, saying that he was better armed in the days when he led rebels against the Soviets.
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