It was the latest of growing calls for the mission's mandate to be extended to deal with mounting insecurity in the battle-scarred country.

"I think the secretary general (of the UN, Kofi Annan) is on record saying that it would be desirable if ISAF is extended," said Lakhdar Brahimi at a press conference at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters.

"I think that there is now an understanding in the international community that this need is there," he said, after talks with representatives of NATO's 19 permanent members.

On August 11, NATO takes over over command of the 4,700-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which remains under UN mandate and since February has been under German and Dutch command.

A NATO diplomat said Brahimi did not try to pressure Alliance representatives on the idea of deploying troops outside Kabul. He said Brahimi gave a "very balanced message", stressing the "huge challenges" that remain in Afghanistan.

Brahimi meanwhile stressed that "security is the main problem."

"It is a very serious problem but it is not unmanageable at all. If the commitment is there from the international community, I think soon, relatively soon, Afghanistan will stand on its own two feet," the UN envoy said.

A multinational force drawn from 29 nations, the ISAF mandate in Afghanistan does not stretch outside the Afghan capital.

The Afghan government has been struggling to impose its authority outside Kabul since the US-led war to topple the Taliban regime ended in late 2001, as security has deteriorated and attacks on peacekeepers have been increasing.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, UN officials as well as non-governmental organizations want the force's geographical mandate to be extended.

But NATO -- which will be on its first "out-of-area" mission beyond its traditional European theater in its 54-year-history -- so far has resisted the idea which it deems "premature", considering the lack of means.

NATO commanders instead are looking at other ways to boost ISAF's influence, such as working more closely with so-called US sponsored "provincial reconstruction teams" (PRTs) some of which are already on the ground.

WAR.WIRE