Defence Minister Jose Bono said the contingent would be deployed in early July in western Afghanistan for a maximum of 90 days.

Spain already has a 540-strong battalion in the western city of Herat working on reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.

NATO recently announced it was to station 2,000 extra troops in Afghanistan for the election period.

For last year's presidential election Spain had 1,040 troops serving in the country as part of an international security and assistance force overseen by

Spain's Socialist government which took office last year was, along with the public, opposed to its conservative predecessor's policy of sending troops to Iraq and has adopted a bill which obliges the executive to seek parliament's approval before mandating foreign troop missions.