Nato Afghanistan assistance urged

Douglas Alexander will meet Condoleezza Rice next week

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander has urged the UK's Nato allies to involve themselves more in the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

He called for "appropriate burden sharing" of troops from the 38 Nato countries represented in the country.

But Mr Alexander stressed that progress is being made in the country.

Next week he will have a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has called on the alliance to take a "hard look" at what more it can do.

An Oxfam report published last week said a "major change of direction" was needed to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan.

And a US study warned that the war-torn country could become a "failed state".

Mr Alexander said improving conditions in the country would be a long-term struggle and urged Nato countries who have been reluctant to deploy troops in Afghanistan's most dangerous regions to take a more active role.

'Making progress'

"There are about 38 Nato countries represented in the ISAF mission," the minister told BBC One's Andrew Marr show.

"We have made clear to our Nato partners that we do want to see appropriate burden sharing, not just in the number of troops on the ground but where those troops are committed within Afghanistan."

This issue will be raised by Defence Secretary Des Browne at a summit with Nato defence ministers next week.

France and Germany are among the nations which have been criticised for failing to send forces to parts of Afghanistan which have seen the most intense fighting.

Mr Alexander also said reports that Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai was critical of the British military effort were "not an accurate reflection" of what he said, adding that it was important to support the "democratically-elected government".

He added that the presence of a democratically-elected president meant that "not withstanding all of the real challenges - poverty, narcotics, insurgency - we are making progress in Afghanistan".