Four Nato countries yesterday agreed to commit troops for combat in southern and eastern Afghanistan in emergencies. The decision came as the head of the alliance set a target of 2008 for the Afghan National Army to begin to take control of security.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Nato Secretary-General, speaking before the start of the alliance summit in the Latvian capital, said that he envisaged that “effective Afghan security forces would be gradually taking control” by the time of the next summit, which is due in the spring of 2008.

He foresaw no reduction in the number of troops based in Afghanistan in the next two years. There are currently 32,000 troops assigned to Nato’s International Security Assistance Force, which has security responsibility for the whole country.

The concessions made by France, Germany, Italy and Spain to deploy troops outside their own area of operations came as President Bush criticised alliance members who used national caveats to restrict the role of their forces. All four countries have troops in Afghanistan but have not provided assistance in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south, where most of the Taleban attacks have taken place.

The concession did not amount to an absolute guarantee to assist but diplomats said that the mood had changed after rising criticism, particularly from Canada, which has been fighting the Taleban and suffering high casualties in Kandahar.

Diplomatic sources said that France, which has troops in Kabul, was prepared to review its policy on a “case by case” basis, and Italy and Spain, with troops in Western Afghanistan, were also ready to redeploy soldiers “in extreme circumstances”.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said recently in Berlin that German troops based in northern Afghanistan could not be sent to other regions. Franz Josef Jung, the Defence Minister, said yesterday, however, that Germany would consider sending its troops elsewhere in Afghanistan in an emergency.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer had earlier summed up irritation over the national caveats. He told a parallel security conference in Riga: “We can ill-afford reconstruction armies that can’t do combat. National caveats take away the commander’s flexibility.”

General Jim Jones, the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, told the conference that there were 50 national caveats operating in Afghanistan. Lifting these could mean the availability of another 2,000 troops for combat missions.

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