NATO countries have indicated a willingness to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan, and some have signalled an intention to contribute soldiers to the volatile southern region.
Canada's Defence Minister Peter MacKay, meeting with his NATO counterparts in Amsterdam on Wednesday, was among those calling for more soldiers, air support and military trainers to help in the fight against the Taliban.
On Thursday, NATO spokesperson James Appathurai told CTV's Canada AM it appears the pressure has produced results.
"We heard encouraging news around the table," he said from Noordwijk, Netherlands, where the conference is happening.
"This wasn't what we call a fourth-generation conference. It wasn't for defense ministers to put formal pledges on the table, but they did. These nine ministers indicated a willingness to increase what they have in Afghanistan and a small number also indicated that they would be willing to send forces to the more volatile south."
Appathurai said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was encouraged by the progress, as were representatives from the Netherlands, a country that had threatened to pull out of Afghanistan unless other NATO members bolstered their troop numbers.
MacKay was slated to meet with German's defence minister on Thursday, the second and final day of the NATO talks.
Germany and France -- both subject to longstanding complaints they have not pulled their weight in Afghanistan -- have been the focus of intense lobbying at the conference.
Appathurai said Germany's defence minister spoke at length about expanding the nation's forces that are in Afghanistan to help train members of the Afghan National Army -- possibly even doubling or tripling the contingent.
But he said there was no indication Germany would send troops to the combat zones in the south or east.
Though the Conservative government has been pressured at home to pull Canada's troops off the frontlines in the south of Afghanistan, sources told The Canadian Press that MacKay is not looking to hand over duties to another country.
Instead, MacKay is trying to convince other nations to boost their commitment in order to pad out the ranks and help train the Afghan army.
Canada also wants a guarantee that helicopter support -- something Canada lacks -- will remain in place in Afghanistan amid concerns countries with CH-47 Chinook helicopters consider withdrawing the aircraft.
Scheffer said on Wednesday that more troop contributions would likely be directed to helping train the Afghan National Army. So far, NATO has only produced about 20 of 46 troop-training teams that were promised.
Scheffer also suggested that a system whereby member-countries split time in the most dangerous regions through a rotation system, would better serve the mission.
However, the concept is still only in the early stages.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has expressed support for rotating troops out of Afghanistan's hot zones in order to better share the burden.
Some NATO nations have contributed troops, but with caveats that limit how, when and where they can be used.
Most of the heavy lifting in Afghanistan has been done by Canada, the U.S., the Netherlands and Britain.
All four have long maintained that NATO allies Germany, Italy, France and Spain have not played their part on the front lines, refusing to commit significant numbers of troops to the volatile south and east, where most of the fighting has taken place.
