THE political head of Nato appealed yesterday for alliance members to provide hundreds more troops for the mission in southern Afghanistan.

With most of the fighting burden falling on the shoulders of the British, US, Canadian and Dutch troops in the South, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary-General of Nato, said that some countries had failed to live up to their promises on troop numbers.

In an interview with the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, he said that he could not accept a scenario in which Nato members would fail to supply the necessary troops. Alliance foreign ministers will meet in New York next week to discuss the crisis.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer said: “I am calling for alliance solidarity because some nations are carrying more of the burden than others.” He was speaking out after The Times revealed that many Nato members had made it clear they had no intention of sending more troops. General James Jones, the American Supreme Allied Commander Europe, has asked for another 2,500 soldiers for southern Afghanistan.

Sources close to Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, told The Times: “Everyone accepts that Britain [with 5,400 troops in Afghanistan] is doing its fair share. It’s crucial for Afghanistan but also for Nato that the alliance steps up to the mark to ensure the mission succeeds.”

Military sources in Kabul said that with no expectation of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey offering more troops, the only hope was that a country such as Poland, with a good track record for operations in Iraq, might fill the gap.

A senior official in the Bush Administration said: “Germany, Norway and Poland could do more.” The official said that Berlin had the capability to provide more than the 2,700 German troops that are based in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, and that Norway could provide an infantry battalion and helicopters.

Defence officials in Germany said that all the troops in the German force were needed in northern Afghanistan, which is less volatile than the south.

Most of Nato’s other leading military partners are already heavily committed. Italy has thousands of troops deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans and Lebanon.

Military sources in Kabul said that at present, because of the lack of a mobile reserve force — first requested 18 months ago — Nato commanders were obliged to turn to a handful of nations to help out in different provinces when the Taleban carried out attacks.

In the current campaign in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province, the main Canadian force has been supplemented by British Special Forces and other troops from the US, the Netherlands and Denmark. In neighbouring Helmand province, where the British have faced daily Taleban assaults, the Canadians and Dutch have helped out.

The military sources said: “These countries are having to fulfil the role of a reserve force on top of all their other duties. This is why we need a dedicated reserve force.”

• The UN official in charge of countering the global drugs menace yesterday urged stronger military action to destroy the opium poppy business in Afghanistan. Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN office on drugs and crime, called on Nato forces in southern Afghanistan “to destroy the heroin laboratories, disband the open opium bazaars and bring to justice the big traders”.

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