A comprehensive approach, which combines military and civil campaigns and involves international agencies and donor countries, is needed for Afghanistan, said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Thursday.

There was general agreement over such an approach among NATO defense ministers who are engaged in a two-day informal meeting in the southern Spanish city, he told reporters.

The ministers also agreed to help build capacity and capability of the Afghan government, he said. They pledged to step up efforts in training and equipping the Afghan National Army.

De Hoop Scheffer underlined the importance of more troops for Afghanistan although he admitted that the long-term solution is not a military one. "We need the right forces, the right mix of forces to do the job," he said.

He said the two-day meeting is not a force-generation conference and declined to answer any questions in this regard.

He said force generation is a continuing process rather than an event and that the alliance is making progress.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has had 5,000 additional troops since NATO's Riga summit in last November, bringing the grand total to 35,000, he said.

The progress is something he did not expect at Riga, said the NATO chief.

He said the fact that ISAF needs more troops does not mean the current strategy is wrong, denying any criticism from the defense ministers over military advice.

ISAF faces a daunting task as Taliban forces are expected to launch a spring offensive.

The United States and Britain have pledged to augment their troops in Afghanistan, but other big troops-contributing European allies, such as Germany, Italy, France and Spain, are reluctant to send more soldiers there.

Editor: Yan