Targeted for a NATO role, the division was reorganized as a mechanized division in 1979.

Lord Robertson said that "some nations" favored a NATO role and that "none excluded it."

No decisions were made on expanding the NATO role, he said.

The push for a NATO role is politically important.

A NATO role in a campaign against Iraq would extend the organization's reach well beyond its traditional region.

The United States wants Spain to fulfill whatever NATO role the Americans give up.

The Spaniards have refused to take on NATO roles outside immediate Spanish defense interests.

"There is a general feeling that this is an interesting idea," an American official said of a NATO role in Afghanistan.

The question of a NATO role in Afghanistan has been percolating behind the scenes but is coming to the fore now for several reasons.

In a military sense, a NATO role could deal with the problem of rotating commands.