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This summer, troops from the alliance will begin to assume responsibility for the southern region of Afghanistan, an area where extremist attacks occur regularly. A suicide bomber in Kandahar recently attacked a convoy, injuring a U.S. soldier and two Afghans. Drug-related violence also plagues security forces in the region.

The international force, composed of troops from Canada, the United Kingdom and maybe the Netherlands, will have its work cut out for it, said Victoria Nuland, the U.S. ambassador to NATO.

“This will need to be the toughest fighting force that NATO has ever fielded,” said Nuland, speaking to defense reporters in Washington on Jan. 4.

The Cold War-era alliance is in a long-term transformation to make it relevant for the 21st century. Now 26 members strong, NATO is seeking to make a real contribution to the war on terrorism, conducting officer training in Iraq, for example. But NATO’s transformational prize is its emerging role in Afghanistan.

Although the alliance began providing security and stabilization operations around Kabul, it has expanded to operate in more than a dozen provinces in the north and the west. This summer, it will expand into the more unstable south.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force is tasked to assist the Afghan government as it tries to extend its authority across the expansive and violent country, conducting stability and security operations alongside Afghan security forces.

President Bush, speaking after a Pentagon briefing Jan. 4 in which he was updated on the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that as NATO assumes more responsibility in Afghanistan, U.S. officials hope to reduce American troop levels there to about 16,500 this year, down from the current level of about 19,000.

Some 254 U.S. troops have died and 675 have been wounded in action in Operation Enduring Freedom since the mission began in October 2001.

A key challenge to peace and stability in Afghanistan is eradicating the ubiquitous poppy fields that fuel a prosperous and violent drug trade. As it expands to the south, the NATO force will be operating in the Helmand province, known to be particularly active in the drug business.

Commanders are developing and certifying rules of engagement that will allow them to be effective in the region, Nuland said. The international force comprises about 9,200 troops from a variety of countries. The top four contributing nations include Germany, with more than 2,100 troops; Italy, with about 2,000; and Canada, with more than 800 troops. France, the United Kingdom and Spain each contribute abut 500 troops.

Several other nations will provide support to the international force in the south, including Australia, Romania, Norway, Denmark and the U.S., Nuland said.

Despite the diversity of the forces providing combat support to Afghanistan under the NATO initiative, Nuland said they are “extremely experienced” and are up for the job.

“It will be a big challenge for NATO,” she said, “and I think we’re ready for it.”

But among NATO’s membership, there are haves and have-nots. While many members, including the U.S. and Britain, are big defense spenders, many other countries do not spend much on defense. NATO officials acknowledge that only seven of the alliance’s 26 members contribute more than 2 percent of their gross domestic product to defense. That leaves richer members paying most of the bills in places like Afghanistan.

Until now, Nuland said, each country paid 100 percent of the costs of its deployment. If Germany contributed a force to Afghanistan, for example, it would pay all the associated costs with that deployment. That funding model makes it difficult for countries with emerging economies, such as Bulgaria or Romania, to fund such endeavors, despite their willingness to deploy their troops.

The alliance is pursuing another funding model in which members pool their money to help pay for the deployments of NATO forces. Some critics fear that this could still leave richer members holding the bag. That may become less of an issue as the alliance welcomes new members, some with more money. But NATO likely won’t expand anytime soon, Nuland said.