Rumsfeld said the idea of such an expanded role for NATO might come up in discussions at a two-day meeting here of alliance defense ministers but not as formal US proposals or requests.

"It's conceivable that a larger portion of the responsibility could move from the existing coalition... to NATO having that responsibility as opposed to the coalition," he told reporters shortly after arriving here from Washington.

"Whether it will ever happen I have no idea," he said. "We certainly have favored that over time.

NATO assumed controlled of the 5,300-member International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in August and has agreed to expand its presence beyond Kabul, mainly by deploying small provincial reconstruction teams.

At the same time, a US-led force of some 10,000 troops continues to mount military sweeps and combat missions to stamp out resistance by forces aligned with the hardline Taliban regime that was driven from power two years ago.

Shifting greater responsibility for security in Afghanistan to NATO would have obvious appeal to a US military already stretched by a fiercely contested occupation in Iraq.

Rumsfeld said the United States also would like NATO to do more in Iraq, although he conceded that it will have a lot on its hands with a larger role in Afghanistan.

Since taking over ISAF, NATO has had shortfalls in capabilities required by the peacekeeping mission in Kabul -- helicopters, troops, transport and intelligence -- that it is only now beginning to correct.

Rumsfeld and the US ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns said members of the transatlantic alliance have made commitments to provide most of the needed capabilities.

Germany has taken over a provincial reconstruction team in Kunduz, but plans for other provincial reconstruction teams are still in discussion.

Three or four other countries, or groups of countries, are thinking about deploying teams, Rumsfeld said.

"As you know I've been encouraging international forces to step up and take more responsibility for the portions of the Afghan activities. I think it's a good thing and my guess is it will happen," he said.

"What it will take, how long, or at what rate I think is yet to be seen," he said.

He said NATO might in time take over all provincial reconstructions teams, including those now manned by US forces, and add new ones.

"And who knows at some point the task may mature to the point that NATO would want to take on a still larger responsibility for it," he said.

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