FACTBOX - NATO's force in Afghanistan

(Reuters) - The largest summit in NATO's history starts on Wednesday and could show whether the U.S.-led alliance has the resolve to win the war in Afghanistan.

Here are some key details about NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

ISAF's ROLE:

* ISAF's role is to help Afghan authorities provide a safe environment for reconstruction and the rule of law. It carries out patrols, runs reconstruction projects, trains the Afghan army and police and operates Kabul International Airport.

-- While NATO is not expected to actively hunt and kill insurgents, tougher rules of engagement drawn up for the southern expansion mean its troops may use force to pre-empt enemy threats.

* NATO assumed command and control of the ISAF mission on August 11, 2003.

* The Afghan mission is the alliance's biggest ground operation in its history. The transfer of U.S. troops is the biggest deployment of U.S. forces under foreign command since World War Two.

ISAF BREAKDOWN:

* Here is a breakdown of current national deployments within the 40-nation ISAF, which NATO says now has some 47,000 troops.

UNITED STATES: 15,000 troops (mainly east)

UNITED KINGDOM: 7,800 (mainly south)

GERMANY: 3,210 (north)

ITALY: 2,880 (west and capital Kabul)

CANADA: 2,500 (south)

NETHERLANDS: 1,650 (south)

FRANCE: 1,515 (Kabul)