NATO to take command across all of Afghanistan

NATO defence chiefs have agreed to assume command of peacekeeping across all of Afghanistan next month.

The final move into eastern Afghanistan will take effect quickly as it will largely involve placing under NATO command about 12,000, mostly US, troops already in the region.

Britain has nearly 5,000 troops in the country - including 3,600 in the southern Helmand province - with 900 more on the way.

"They [NATO nations] agreed it would be in coming weeks," said a NATO spokesman at a meeting of defence ministers in the Slovenian coastal resort of Portoroz.

Afghanistan is experiencing the most serious violence since hardline Taleban Islamists were removed in 2001 and NATO knows its credibility as a fighting force is at stake in what is the toughest combat in its 57-year history.

Nearly 140 foreign troops, most of them American, British and Canadian, have been killed in fighting or accidents during operations since January.