NATO force chief vows more pressure on Taliban

KABUL: NATO troops will more aggressively pursue Taliban militants this year with Afghan forces playing a larger role in fighting the insurgents, the head of the force in Afghanistan, General Dan McNeill said.

In a weekend interview with AFP, the US general also said he was pleased with Washington's "generous" dispatch in April of 3,200 Marines to reinforce the nearly 40,000 NATO and 20,000 US-led coalition force soldiers already here.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander emphasised the need for more international troops to be sent to Afghanistan, recalling that "NATO has not filled its number of forces required here."

The multinational force was estimated a few months ago to be short of 7,500 soldiers.

The deficit is being discussed and would also feature at a NATO summit in Bucharest in April, McNeill said.

The shortfall could be met if "you look at all members to do a little more", he added, noting that some nations had already stepped up such as France which will this year send military trainers to the southern province of Uruzgan.

In 2008, there was not likely to be any change in military strategy but there would be more pressure on Taliban insurgents, said McNeill, whose roughly 18-month term is due to expire in the coming months.

"We are going to be aggressively pursuing the insurgents and continue to push our reconstruction projects," he said. ISAF is also tasked with helping to rebuild Afghanistan, which has been ruined by nearly three decades of war," he said.

Another of ISAF's missions is to help rebuild the Afghan army, which was destroyed in the civil war of the early 1990s.