Angela Merkel is resisting pressure from NATO: She refuses to station German troops in the south of Afghanistan. But she has agreed to let German troops conduct "emergency rescue missions" there. It sounds harmless, but it could have significant consequences for the troops.

If German diplomats are telling the truth, Tuesday evening's trip to the Riga opera house was a thoroughly pleasant affair. The heads of state of all 26 NATO countries were meeting in Latvia's capital. The summit's thorniest issue -- NATO's military mission in Afghanistan -- was negotiated during a working dinner. But there were no disagreements, at least according to German reports. "There were no accusations, no polemics. It was a very responsible discussion," German government sources said the following day.

This account of the meeting is surprising, at least at first sight. For weeks, a number of NATO partners -- led by the US, Great Britain, Canada and Denmark -- have conducted a genuine anti-German campaign. Germany has been repeatedly criticized for stationing its troops in the country's north, where they are accused of enjoying a kind of extended vacation, while others are risking their lives in the military skirmishes of the south. But Angela Merkel stood firm in the face of calls for sending German troops to the south. She refered again and again to the good work Germans are doing in the north.

Merkel's position didn't change fundamentally during the NATO summit in Riga. She was the third speaker at the dinner, after British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper. Merkel made it more than clear "that we are well positioned with our mandate and that there is no reason to change that mandate," according to government sources. Merkel had already told NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that Germany will not send additional troops to Afghanistan.

NATO clinched an agreement Wednesday to bolster its troubled mission in Afghanistan by sending more troops and cutting restrictions on forces already there, while admitting that gaps remain.

Leaders of the 26-nation bloc, including US President George W. Bush, also backed a French proposal to set up a "contact group" to coordinate action to prevent Afghanistan slipping back toward chaos.

Closer to its traditional home ground, the leaders also agreed to admit Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina to its Partnership for Peace program, a decade after the wars that ripped the Balkans apart.

The pledge on Afghanistan, announced at the end of a two-day summit in Riga, came after the United States and Britain in particular lobbied for more troops and fewer caveats on the forces in the violence-wracked country. European heavyweight states like Germany, France, Spain and Italy came under pressure to do more in southern Afghanistan, where British-led troops have faced a growing death toll in fighting against Taliban insurgents.

Chancellor Angela Merkel after the summit stressed that Germany's contribution to the Afghanistan mission was highly valued by its NATO partners. She had also once more assured alliance members that Germany would come to NATO's aid in emergencies beyond the locations where the Bundeswehr is deployed.

She added that solidarity demanded it and that it was clear "Germany wouldn't close its eyes to this solidarity."

As an example, she suggested evacuating wounded soldiers from other NATO states.

RIGA, Latvia: Leaders of the 26 NATO nations failed to agree Wednesday on President Bush's demand that member countries with troops in Afghanistan lift their restrictions on how the troops are used. Those rules keep some soldiers from operating in the most dangerous part of the country.

Instead of lifting the restrictions entirely, France, Germany and Italy agreed to allow their troops to be sent in emergencies to bolster the NATO forces in the south, where Taliban forces have fought with renewed vigor.

The NATO leaders also unexpectedly opened the door to membership to Serbia by offering it partnership status, along with Bosnia and Montenegro. Up until now, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands have blocked Serbia because of its failure to arrest two men who led Serbian forces during the fighting in Bosnia - Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, who have been indicted for war crimes by the international tribunal in The Hague.

The offer Wednesday of offered partnership status - a step toward full membership - came with the condition that Serbia promise to try to capture the wanted pair and other figures charged with war crimes.

NATO's Secretary-General, Jaap de Hoop Schieffer, denied that the move constituted a softening of the alliance's position.

· PM surprisingly upbeat on progress of conflict
· Countries agree deal on troop reinforcements

Tony Blair made the startling claim yesterday that Britain and other Nato members were "winning" the war in Afghanistan despite increased Taliban activity and a sharply rising death toll.

The prime minister was speaking to the press at the end of a two-day Nato summit in Latvia which exposed continuing divisions within the 26-member transatlantic organisation over the level of commitment to the Afghanistan venture.

Doubts about the military operation have grown this year as a result of a resurgence in Taliban operations that has left thousands of Afghans dead, as well as Nato troops. Two Nato soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb south of Kabul yesterday.