A possible plan to send French troops to eastern Afghanistan could provide Ottawa with the extra NATO support it's demanding as a condition to extend the Canadian mission in the region.

Canadian officials had been hoping that France would deploy a large number of soldiers to southern Afghanistan's Kandahar region, where 2,500 Canadian troops are already stationed.

According to a report published in France's daily newspaper Le Monde, French President Nicolas Sarkozy instead wants to send troops to eastern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan. The area is considered dangerous and has seen much recent fighting.

That move could indirectly help the Canadian forces, NATO sources told CBC News. 

A scenario the alliance has worked on envisions French soldiers replacing American soldiers in the east, with the Americans shifting to support the Canadians in the south, the CBC's David Common reported.

"It's a game of military musical chairs," Commons said.

In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier admitted Canada needed help and said the government was working hard to find it.

"I am optimistic that in the near future, we'll find a partner with us in Kandahar," he said Tuesday, the second day of debate on a motion to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan to 2011.

Decision to be announced in April

The motion is contingent on two key recommendations of the Manley report on Canada's role in Afghanistan: that NATO allies provide 1,000 extra troops and that Ottawa secure access to unmanned surveillance drones and large helicopters to ferry Canadian troops around the region.

NDP defence critic Dawn Black said if the French paper has it right, it would be bad news for a mission she said is too focused on fighting the Taliban.

The government has gone to Europe several times "begging" other nations to come to its aid in Kandahar, Black said, only to be turned down at every corner.

Sarkozy is said to still be mulling over the final decision, which will be announced when NATO heads of state meet in early April in Bucharest, Romania. France already has about 1,100 troops in Kabul.

NATO's chief military adviser, Gen. Ray Henault, said last week he believes other countries will be able to contribute the extra troops that Canada requires to extend its mission.