Gates said Bush made the offer at a dinner with allied leaders at the just-concluded NATO summit in Bucharest.

"The president indicated that he expected in 2009 the United States would make a significant additional contribution," he said.

Gates said bipartisan support for such a move in the United States was strong enough to allow Bush to make the pledge even though he will no longer be president.

"I think no matter who is elected president they would want to be successful in Afghanistan. So I think this was a very safe thing for him to say," Gates told reporters traveling with him.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced at the summit that France would send an additional battalion, or about 700 troops, to Afghanistan, which would free up US troops already in the country to serve as reinforcements in the volatile south.

Bush has not been specific about the number of US troops that were likely to be sent, or when and where they would go, saying that would depend on conditions at the time.

"I'm still kind of still where I was in December. I don't want to make significant long-term commitments of additional US forces before giving the allies the opportunity to see what they do," he said.

"Let's get the French in place, others have talked about increasing by several hundred (troops)."

He said it was not linked to a continuing drawdown of US forces from Iraq.

"I think by '09 it will be independent of that," he said.

General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is scheduled to make recommendations next week on whether conditions there will allow further cuts in the force after the last of five "surge" brigades are out.

Petraeus has said there should be a pause before any more troops are brought out of Iraq, which suggests that the US force in Iraq is unlikely to be cut below about 140,000 troops this year.

Gates said he will soon decide on a US Army proposal to reduce combat tours from 15 months back to 12, but said that would await Petraeus' recommendations.

Shorter tours would ease the strain on the army, but limit the availability of troops for deployment.

Gates said rising Taliban violence was one reason for sending more US troops to Afghanistan.

"I put this in front of the president as a possibility as something he ought to be willing to say and do," he said. "From my perspective, it was to allow him to come in behind President Sarkozy at the dinner and say 'We're going to do more, too.'"

"He was non-specific and non-specific for good reasons. And that's because we don't know when and we don't know how we'll do it," Gates said.

General Dan McNeill, the US commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, has requested two additional combat brigades and brigade of military trainers.

But so far, NATO has had trouble meeting even the minimum military requirements -- two maneuver battalions and a border security battalion as well as more helicopters and unmanned aircraft.

The United States has helped fill the gap with 3,500 Marines who have been deployed for a seven-month tour, but they will be leaving in November.

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