States can't pick and choose Afghan tasks: NATO boss

BERLIN (Reuters) - NATO countries cannot pick and choose what tasks they carry out in Afghanistan, the alliance's chief said in Germany on Monday, in a veiled criticism of Berlin's reluctance to send its troops to Afghan hotspots.

Germany has resisted pressure from its NATO allies to deploy forces in the more treacherous south of Afghanistan to help battle Taliban insurgents.

Germany has roughly 3,300 troops in Afghanistan, based in the more stable north.

"In an alliance in which everyone stands for each other there can not be a division of labor in which one side takes care of the fighting and the other specializes in the aftermath of the conflict," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a speech in Berlin.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking at the same conference, once again dismissed calls for deploying German forces in the south.

And German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said he did not feel Scheffer was referring to Germany.

Germany's main mandate from parliament, which is due to expire in October, allows Germany to send a maximum of 3,500 soldiers to Afghanistan, where NATO has a 43,000-strong mission.

The mandate must be renewed annually.

A strong majority of Germans oppose any deployment of German troops to the south.

Scheffer also said NATO members were responsible for educating their respective domestic audiences on the need for public support for the Alliance operation in Afghanistan.

"It is and will remain the duty of national governments and parliaments to communicate security policy," he said.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Jon Boyle)