Nato allies France, Germany and Spain rejected a US call on Wednesday for the alliance to help it fight the Taleban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, insisting Nato should stick to peacekeeping tasks there.
US forces, already stretched by the war in Iraq, bear the brunt of the insurgency and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appealed at a meeting in Berlin for more help once Sunday's crucial Afghan parliamentary elections are out of the way.
But France and Spain insisted Nato 's peacekeeping duties, mainly in the north and west but due to broaden, should remain separate from the 20,000-strong US-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), focused in the more turbulent south and east.
"These missions must remain separate with separate chains of command. The only thing they have in common are that they are in the same country," said Spanish Defence Minister Jose Bono Martinez, echoing the view of France's Michele Alliot-Marie.
German Defence Minister Peter Struck, hosting the Nato meeting four days ahead of Germany's own elections his Social Democrats allies are seen losing, also expressed reservations.
"I would not like to expose our soldiers to more danger by linking these two mandates together," he told German radio.
Britain, which is due to lead the expansion of Nato 's 10,000-strong ISAF peacekeeping force into the south early next year, backed Rumsfeld's call, saying Nato had to be ready to fight insurgents where they found them.
"It has to have forces which are not paper forces," British Defence Secretary John Reid told reporters after talks with Rumsfeld. Britain, Canada and the Netherlands have pledged troops for Nato's expansion to the south.
Earlier Rumsfeld told reporters "it would be nice if Nato developed counter-terrorist capabilities" and suggested Nato also had a role in combating the huge Afghan drugs trade.
Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer acknowledged differences about how Nato should function alongside the OEF but insisted the alliance would continue expanding its presence.
"The foundation for synergies (with OEF) is there and in that respect I am optimistic," he told a news conference.
US TROOP CUTS? OEF has been fighting in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion to oust its Taleban former rulers. Nato took charge of the UN-mandated ISAF stabilisation mission two years later.
Nato has raised its presence in the capital Kabul, the north and the western part of Afghanistan. Next year it wants to expand into the more dangerous south and east - a move that would allow the United States to consider major troop cuts.
Asked to comment on a New York Times report that Washington was studying plans to cut 4,000 troops, or 20 percent, in early next year, a Pentagon spokesman said no such proposal had been made to Rumsfeld but acknowledged a desire to cut troop levels.
"As Nato expands its responsibilities, as the Afghan national army gets more capable, there is obvious desire to see a reduction over time (in US troop levels)," he said.
Rumsfeld himself said the United States would maintain a "strong role" in Afghanistan as long as needed.
"Ultimately our goal is for Afghans to provide for Afghan security," he told a news conference.
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