Afghanistan and NATO's future role will dominate discussions at the alliance's summit in Riga, Latvia, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Afghanistan will be a crucial test to the credibility of NATO as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) under its command is facing unprecedented challenges in the country.

NATO took over the control of ISAF in 2003. After four stages of expansion, ISAF, which was initially deployed in the Afghan capital of Kabul only, now covers the whole country, including the volatile south and the even more perilous east.

The new responsibilities and the increase of suicide attacks on ISAF since the end of last year pose a serious threat to the NATO forces there.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said 2,500 troops plus equipment are needed to suppress the resurgence of the Taliban, which was overthrown in the 2001 war in Afghanistan.

But the mustering of troops remains difficult so long as the security situation in Afghanistan does not improve.

NATO's 26 member states and 11 non-alliance partners have deployed some 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 12,000 American soldiers who were put under NATO command in October 2006.

The leaders will also have to tackle the issue of caveats -- restrictions imposed by nations on their troops' deployment, operation and engagement with enemy.

At the summit, US President George W. Bush is expected to demand extra troops from NATO member states and push for easing the restrictions. But success is not guaranteed.

Another big issue of the summit is the future role of the alliance.

De Hoop Scheffer said the summit will set the direction of the transformation of NATO. "The summit will be an important opportunity to affirm NATO's readiness to deal with 21st century security challenges," he told Xinhua prior to the summit.

But the question is, how far NATO can go.

Washington's proposal to forge partnerships with countries that are out of the Euro-Atlantic area is causing concerns among European countries that such partnerships would weaken the alliance's nature of collective defense for Europe and North America.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie wrote last week in the French daily Le Figaro that the "development of a global partnership could dilute the natural solidarity between Europeans and North Americans."

She said such a move would send a bad political message, that of a campaign launched by the West against those who do not share their ideas.

Europe also fears that its influence in the alliance might be compromised by the presence of the new partners. There are also fears that the new partnerships would simply be another name for "coalition of the willing," where Washington would pick and choose its allies and ignore NATO.

The United States is advocating the idea of forging closer ties with Asia-Pacific countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2006)