In consultations with new NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Berlin, Schröder said he backed letting the Eurocorps – a joint military unit made up of soldiers from Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain – take over the transatlantic alliance’s ISAF mission in Afghanistan this summer.

“The defense ministers are currently examining whether, for example, the German-French brigade could play a role, and if so on what scale,” Schröder said at a joint press conference with de Hoop Scheffer in Berlin on Friday.

ISAF, which currently numbers around 6,000 of the predominately German and Canadian soldiers, is limited to the Afghan capital Kabul and the northern city of Kunduz. It is NATO’s first mission outside of the 19-member alliance’s traditional sphere of influence in Europe and North America.

After German troops last year expanded the peacekeeping operations to Kunduz, other European nations are likely to commit military teams to five other provincial cities, hoping to help stabilize the country further ahead of Afghan elections expected in June. According to the Associated Press, Italy and Norway were considering deploying troops to run “provincial reconstruction teams” like the one in Kunduz.

“We cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan because that would mean we lose the fight against terrorism and that we cannot bring security and stability,” de Hoop Scheffer said.

Eurocorps command in August

The Eurocorps, founded in 1992 by Germany and France to further military cooperation in the European Union, would most likely take over ISAF in August. Currently headquartered in Strasbourg, it is unclear how many of its 50,000 troops would take part in an Afghan mission.

Schröder appeared relieved that de Hoop Scheffer was opposed to merging ISAF’s peacekeeping duties with the still substantial military mission led by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He said, however, the NATO allies needed to look for “synergies” and remain “pragmatic” on the matter.

After meeting with Schröder, de Hoop Scheffer continued to Munich to an annual security conference. Besides discussing Afghanistan, NATO defense ministers are also expected to discuss what if any role the alliance may undertake in stabilizing Iraq. However, the NATO chief cautioned it was too early for any decisions on a military role in the country.

The United States would like NATO to take more responsibility in a multinational sector now led by alliance member Poland. But for Europeans countries opposed to the U.S.-led war in Iraq – such as Germany and France – Washington will most likely first have to relinquish power in Baghdad to an Iraqi administration.

Last year's Munich conference was a highly tense affair with officials from America and Europe on edge as a UN Security Council vote on a new Iraq resolution loomed ominously near. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer famously clashed at the event, but relations between Washington and Berlin have since largely normalized.