Italy said yesterday it will send about 1,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan to take the total number of its personnel committed to nearly 3,500 as part of US President Barack Obama's planned troop increase.

"With this (decision) we will certainly be among those making the largest commitment," Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting.

Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa told reporters the troops would be sent over 12 months, with numbers accelerating in the second half of next year.

He said personnel would be concentrated in the western part of Afghanistan which would be under Italian military control. At the same time soldiers would be withdrawn from the Balkans to "compensate" for those being sent to Afghanistan.

He said the 1,000 extra troops was in addition to 200 military personnel Rome has decided to send to train Afghan soldiers and police.

Mr Obama on Tuesday unveiled a high-risk strategy to boost the US presence in Afghanistan by 30,000 troops to nearly 100,000 starting in two to three weeks, in the hope of defeating the Taliban after eight years of war. He promised to start bringing them home from mid-2011.

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