The NATO nations have agreed to boost 5,000 extra troops and $100 million to secure the Afghan presidential election in August and to fight against the Taliban.

“Around 3,000 forces from allied and partner nations will provide security leading up to Afghan elections later this year. Of the 3,000, Britain will contribute 900 as the major part, Germany and Spain, with 600 each. About 14,00 to 2,000 soldiers will be deployed for 70 embedded training teams needed to help build up the Afghan National Army to a size of 134,000.”, said Robert Gibbs on Saturday , a White House spokesman.

“France and Italy were fresh committing forces, of those 300 will be French and 100 will be Italian,” he added.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown welcomed promises of extra troops.

I am pleased to say that a large number of countries have announced that they will provide additional support: Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Poland, Turkey and Croatia have joined Germany, who have already made similar announcements, said Brown at the end of the summit.

President Obama has ordered 17,000 troops to deploy to fight the Taliban in the south and the east and 4,000 more to train Afghan troops.

NATO is also committing $100 million to expand the Afghan National Army Trust Fund.

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