NATO's secretary-general says the alliance should step up efforts to train the rapidly expanding Afghan army and police force.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen told NATO's defence ministers Thursday that trainers are needed "to enable Afghanistan to stand on its feet as a sovereign country and defend itself from terrorism."

The talks follow an appeal by U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who is pressing nations who have failed to offer combat troops to step forward with trainers.

Bolstering the training effort is important because NATO wants Afghan troops to replace its forces in the war against the Taliban.

There are some 243,000 Afghan army and police officers now, but NATO wants that number to reach 300,000 by 2011.

A parliamentary motion passed March 13, 2008, calls for Canada to "end its presence in Kandahar as of July 2011" and for all forces to have left by the following December.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper subsequently said that the vast majority of troops would be out of Afghanistan, and not just Kandahar, by the deadline. But Defence Minister Peter MacKay has said Canada is willing to continue mentoring Afghan police after the troop disengagement begins next summer.

About 2,830 Canadian troops are deployed in Afghanistan, mostly in the southern province of Kandahar, as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

Since 2002, when the mission began, 146 Canadian soldiers have been killed. Four Canadian civilians have also been killed, including one diplomat, one journalist and two aid workers.