Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said the alliance must show progress in Afghanistan, its top mission, before a wider role in Iraq to support the U.S. occupation could be considered.

``If you look at the challenge in Afghanistan, it's pretty formidable,'' Robertson told reporters at a breakfast in Washington today. ``We've got to get that right.''

Afghanistan is the alliance's biggest mission, and also the first ever outside of Europe. The current North Atlantic Treaty Organization role in Iraq is limited to logistical support for Polish soldiers occupying a region between Baghdad and Basra in the south.

Robertson spoke a day after the deadly bombing of an Italian base in southern Iraq, an attack that has prompted Japan and South Korea to alter plans to send forces to aid the occupation. Guerrilla warfare is impeding the political and economic recovery of the oil-producing nation.

U.S. Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and presidential candidate Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander, have both called for the alliance to take on a greater role in Iraq.

At the same time, there are growing international worries about a revival of violence in Afghanistan, the former staging ground for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda followers.

UN Assessment

A United Nations Security Council delegation returned from Afghanistan earlier this week and issued a report saying the country's reconstruction has been ``significantly slowed'' by Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants and by ``unchecked'' opium production, German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said.

The U.S. has a force of 10,000 soldiers operating primarily in Afghanistan's dangerous border region with Pakistan, where all three governments acknowledge guerrillas use the remote, mountainous terrain to cross borders, carry out attacks and retreat.

``We will continue to take casualties there, but we continue to take the fight to the enemy day after day,'' U.S. Army General John Abizaid, the top commander for Afghanistan and Iraq, said in a briefing today.

Russia, India Concerned

Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee expressed concerns in Moscow yesterday about ``intensifying'' fighting by remnant Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels. ``The parties see the Taliban movement's regrouping with outside support as a matter of serious concern,'' a joint statement from the leaders said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Robertson said NATO was committed to the Afghan mission, which includes peacekeepers in the capital Kabul and rebuilding and disarmament teams that have begun operating outside it.

``There is not yet a consensus to move forward (in Iraq), or an imperative,'' he said. NATO members including France and Germany opposed the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq in March.

Last Updated: November 13, 2003 12:04 EST