KABUL, 27 January 2005 — NATO is to send more troops to Afghanistan to reinforce security for this year’s parliamentary elections, the commander of a NATO-led peacekeeping force said yesterday.

Afghanistan was due to hold parliamentary elections in April after its first direct presidential election in October, but logistical problems have already pushed the polls into May and diplomats say it could be as late as July before they happen.

“NATO will bring some additional forces in Afghanistan to support the national assembly elections and there we have already made an estimate of what is required,” Lt Gen. Jean-Louis Py, the French commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told a news conference.

Py did not say how many NATO soldiers would reinforce the 8,000-strong ISAF peacekeeping mission in Kabul and in some northern provinces.

NATO raised troop numbers in Afghanistan to 9,000 for the presidential election, won by Hamid Karzai who has run the country since US-led forces overthrew the Taleban in late 2001.

ISAF, which came under NATO control in 2003, comprises soldiers from more than 30 countries. It is currently deployed in Kabul and nine provinces north of the capital.

Asked what reinforcements the alliance would send for the parliamentary elections, a senior NATO official in Brussels said: “For the moment, NATO is planning along the lines of the presidential elections, that is, more forces inside plus reinforcements over the horizon,” the official said, meaning other troops would be on stand-by outside Afghanistan.

He said troop numbers would be “more or less” the same as they were for the presidential election.

Py said NATO was keen to know the exact date of the elections so it could plan when to deploy the additional soldiers.

“The reinforcements will arrive for a period of time to cover the elections,” he said. “We have to start. The first step on this issue is the date of the elections themselves.”

Originally slated for June last year, the parliamentary polls have already been postponed twice and could be delayed yet again while Karzai’s government sets out electoral boundaries and a register of voters is updated.

Py said the level of Taleban-linked violence had dropped by 40 percent in December because of an increase of US-led operations against the rebels and the political climate which has allowed the mainstream opposition to join in politics.

“In my opinion, it is a trend which is going to develop,” he said.

NATO plans to deploy troops in western Afghanistan and will expand gradually to southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan following the reduction of violence, Py said.

Nearly 1,100 people including civilians, militants, aid workers, foreign and Afghan troops have been killed, mostly in the south and east, largely in Taleban raids since August 2003.

Py added that NATO had been trying to increase cooperation with the US-led coalition troops hunting Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants in Afghanistan.

“The most effective way to mitigate risks in Afghanistan would be through enhanced synergy, as both operations share a number of common tasks in the country,” he said.

However he said there was “a political problem to solve” as the US-led and NATO forces had fundamentally different roles — one to fight terrorism and the other to keep the peace.

The Taleban government was overthrown by US-led forces after it refused to hand over Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.

architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.