OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's prime minister on Friday said NATO allies are likely to announce soon that troop reinforcements to bolster Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan are on their way.

"I anticipate in the weeks to come there will be additional commitments made in Afghanistan by some of our allies," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper, according to a pooled media report.

"I also fully anticipate that that will result in Canada having a partner in Kandahar, in Canada receiving both the troops we're looking for in Kandahar and the equipment," he said. "I have a very high level of certainty of that."

And, he added: "What I think is encouraging ... is not just that we will receive a partner in Kandahar but this will be reflective of frankly a greater engagement of NATO allies in Afghanistan generally."

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.

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.

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