Nato stretch spurs force rethink

Many Nato member nations are short on troops

Nato defence ministers have agreed to scale back ambitions for a 25,000-strong rapid reaction force to intervene in world crises.

Existing military commitments have sapped troop levels and prompted Nato members to withdraw force pledges.

Separately, Russia's defence minister told the meeting concerns about a US missile shield remained, despite US attempts to allay Moscow's fears.

Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged both "friends" to keep talking.

The US has made several overtures to Moscow in its bid to smooth Russian feathers ruffled by the plans for the defence system, part of which would be based in Europe.

On Tuesday US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had said activation of the European shield could be delayed until there was "definitive proof" of a missile threat from states such as Iran.

Anatoly Serdyukov was unconvinced, but said progress had been made

However on Thursday Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said those efforts were not enough and Moscow was "sticking to its position".

But he said talks about the plans would continue.

"It seems to me that the Americans are starting to better understand our concerns and we welcome that," he said.

The US is currently negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic - Russia's former Warsaw Pact allies - to base, respectively, 10 interceptors and a radar on their territories.

Map of US missile defence systems

Continuing tensions between the two powers were underlined, reported news agency Associated Press, by an unusual practice run by two Russian Tupolev 160 strategic bombers on Thursday.

The planes flew along the Norwegian coast and then south, until within about 190km (120 miles) of the Dutch resort of Noordwijk where the Nato meeting is taking place, before turning back, the agency reported.

Force reduced

On the final day of talks Nato ministers also agreed to ask commanders to scale back plans for a rapid reaction force - the Nato Response Force - the brainchild of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The force had been conceived as a pool of up to 25,000 soldiers from Nato nations, ready to respond to crises within five days.

The smaller force will still seek to meet the same objectives, but with fewer soldiers. It is not clear how many.

The BBC's Rob Watson in Noordwijk says Nato members simply do not have enough soldiers, mostly due to the pressure of the operation in Afghanistan, and demands from the UN and EU for peacekeepers.

Many Nato countries - the US apart - have been cutting their defence budgets for years, with many now spending less that 2% of GDP on defence, our correspondent reports.

But despite the setbacks, Nato officials seem pleased with the two days of talks, he adds.

There have been informal offers of limited reinforcements for the mission in Afghanistan and much talk by ministers, both in public and behind closed doors, of the need for the alliance to hang together in Afghanistan - or risk failure there.

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