OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada welcomes promises from allies to deploy more troops to Afghanistan but will press for further reinforcements at upcoming NATO talks, the prime minister's spokeswoman said Thursday.

"We recognize the recent increased commitment by NATO in Afghanistan and we're going to take this opportunity to encourage more involvement," Sandra Buckler, spokeswoman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told a press briefing.

Harper and his senior ministers have been lobbying their European counterparts of late to send at least 1,000 troops, drones and helicopters to bolster Canadian forces fighting insurgents in volatile Kandahar province as a condition of Canada's extended deployment to 2011.

Harper is expected to meet with them face-to-face when he travels to Bucharest, Romania for the April 2-4 NATO talks.

"Regarding our discussions with our allies, they are proceeding well and we expect to meet our goals," said Buckler.

"We're on track with the procurement of the equipment ... And we're very confident that we're on track to meet all of our commitments," she said.

"But I don't feel comfortable today speculating when our allies are going to make their intentions known. Something may happen at NATO. It may not," she added.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has some 43,000 troops from 39 nations in conflict-torn Afghanistan trying to spread the rule of the weak central government and foster reconstruction.

But Canadian, British and US troops have suffered significant casualties in the south, and fighting is likely to grow more intense as the weather warms in coming weeks, allowing insurgents to cross the mountainous border with Pakistan more easily.

Canada's parliament voted earlier this month to extend its military mission in volatile southern Afghanistan to 2011, but only if its allies send reinforcements.

Otherwise, Canada would exit at the end of its current mandate in February 2009.

The United States, France and Poland announced they would send extra troops, but with few details of those deployments, it remains unclear if the reinforcements meet Canada's hopes.

A senior government official noted allied participation in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand provinces has grown from 11 countries and some 9,000 troops in mid-2006, to 17 nations with 17,500 troops on the ground.

But, he added, it was important for NATO to also "standardize its approach" to the counter-insurgency, reconstruction and in dealings with the Hamid Karzai government.

Other discussions at the NATO summit are likely to include Kosovo's independence and the enlargement of NATO, officials said.

Croatia, Macedonia and Albania have applied for NATO membership. Ukraine and Georgia have also asked to be considered for possible future NATO membership.

Following the summit, Prime Minister Harper is scheduled to stop in Poland to meet with Prime Minister Donald Tusk on April 4-5.

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