Sarkozy offers hundreds of troops for Afghanistan

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered hundreds of extra troops for Nato’s mission in Afghanistan, alliance spokesman James Appathurai said tonight.

But the spokesman added that military alliance was unlikely to put Georgia and Ukraine on track for membership during the three-day summit in Bucharest, Romania.

He said President Sarkozy offered a battalion – normally around 700-800 troops - for the volatile eastern region of Afghanistan.

That will free up US troops to move to the southern region of Kandahar where Canada has said it will pull out its beleaguered troops unless it gets 1,000 reinforcements from another ally.

Mr Appathurai said the offers on the opening day of the Nato summit today will meet Canada’s demands.

However, Nato is unlikely to put Georgia and Ukraine on a track for membership, but instead would offer a statement saying Nato’s door would remain open to them in the future if they press ahead with political and military reforms, diplomats said.

The US has been pushing hard for Nato to put the two Black Sea nations on the path to membership, but Russia is vehemently opposed.

European allies led by France and Germany preferred to delay the offer of a membership roadmap to avoid further annoying Moscow.

Earlier it was claimed by Spain’s foreign minister that Nato has agree to invite Croatia and Albania to join, but has postponed a decision on Macedonia.