OHRID, Macedonia -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday asked southeastern European defense ministers to send more troops to Afghanistan, a message he is likely to forcefully echo at a NATO summit this week.

"As the situation on the ground in Iraq continues to improve, I urge you to consider sending your military forces to Afghanistan, where there is an urgent need for trainers as they expand their army," Mr. Gates said at a meeting of the South-Eastern Europe Defense Ministerial, or SEDM, a 12-member organization composed of both NATO members and countries such as Macedonia that want to join the military alliance.

"Your assistance will not only help Afghanistan better protect and care for its citizens," Mr. Gates said, "but will also reinforce your important role in ensuring peace and stability around the globe."

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan has said he needs three more brigades -- 10,000 to 12,000 more troops -- to confront a resurgent Taliban and a general deterioration in the security situation. The United States now has 33,000 troops in Afghanistan, 22,000 of them part of a NATO force of 48,000 soldiers. The rest of the U.S. contingent operates under its own military command.

There are more than 5,000 troops in Afghanistan from the countries that sent representation to the Macedonian meeting, including NATO members such as Italy.

Macedonia, the SEDM host, has 136 troops in Afghanistan, including a medical team. It also has a special-forces platoon and an infantry platoon in Iraq, and a U.S. diplomat said Macedonia is considering shifting those forces to Afghanistan. "The Macedonians have indicated an openness, as their Iraq deployment comes to an end, to look at augmenting the forces already in Afghanistan," said U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Philip T. Reeker.