Defense Minister John Faulkner, testifying before a Senate committee before flying to Slovakia for a NATO summit on Afghanistan, said he had no plans to draw down Australia's troop strength there. Australia has about 1,550 troops in Afghanistan _ the largest contribution of any country outside NATO.

Faulkner said Australian troops were focused on training an Afghan National Army brigade in Uruzgan province "so they can take the responsibility for security in the province," Faulkner said. "That objective, that focus, won't change."

Faulkner said he was discussing with his military chiefs options for accelerating the training process.

"I don't want to see Australian troops in Afghanistan a day longer than is necessary," Faulkner said.

He did not indicate whether he was considering a recommendation by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, for thousands of reinforcements to deal with the escalating insurgency.

U.S. officials in Washington say McChrystal is asking for up to 80,000 more troops.

NATO currently has about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, of which 32,000 are Americans. The U.S. military also has abou 36,00 aditonl olies hee erin otsdeNAO ndr sepaate command.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull accused the government of planning "an early exit from the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan."

But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia would withdraw its forces from Uruzgan only after training the army brigade, local police and civil administration.

"Australia's policy in Afghanistan is to be there for the long haul," he told Parliament

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, Australia's Defense Force Chief, earlier told the Senate inquiry that Uruzgan was the only Afghan province to record a fall in violence last year.