AMERICAN military commanders are seeking to bypass Nato's fractured military set-up in Afghanistan and take direct control of all offensive missions against the Taliban.

AMERICAN military commanders are seeking to bypass Nato's fractured military set-up in Afghanistan and take direct control of all offensive missions against the Taliban.

Nato sources confirmed yesterday that the White House was backing moves which could see British, Canadian, Dutch and other international forces reporting directly to the US Central Command (Centcom) in Florida for operational purposes rather than to alliance headquarters in Belgium.

The US plan is said to reflect American frustration with its Nato allies' widely differing rules of engagement and national caveats which keep thousands of German, Italian and Spanish troops among others out of direct combat and limited to support and reconstruction duties.

At the moment, 8000 British soldiers and 2500 Canadians are facing a growing Taliban insurgency in Helmand and Kandahar provinces while American forces are locked in battle with militants along the eastern border with Pakistan.

The UK, the US and Canada have between them sustained 83% of all soldiers killed in Afghanistan while the other 37 nations contributing troops have lost a comparative handful.

The proposal to streamline the chain of command, even if it offends Nato allies or provides others with a welcome excuse to withdraw from the mission, is now understood to be before Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary.

He was expected to raise the issue in private with Des Browne, his British counterpart, during a visit to London yesterday, emphasising that progress could be made sooner by planning military action centrally. While there are 52,700 soldiers in Nato's international security force command, including 14,000 US troops, very few can be committed to combat duty and some have to refer orders to their own governments before they can agree to co-operate on even relatively safe tasks.

Another 19,000 US soldiers are waging a separate war under Centcom's control along the frontier provinces bordering Taliban safe-haven areas in Waziristan.

The new US proposal, backed by an influx of fresh American troops from early next year, would force all contributing nations to accept common rules of engagement and be prepared to fight where they were needed most.

It is unlikely to be acceptable to a number of alliance members, notably Germany, even if a compromise is put forward to allow some countries to concentrate on security and reconstruction under Nato's banner while the "sharp end" contingents come under Centcom as a co-ordinated strike force.

General David McKiernan, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, said earlier that a shortage of troops in the country was forcing commanders to rely more on air strikes, which can cause more civilian deaths.