London - European NATO allies need to provide more troops for Afghanistan but Britain believes it has already made contributions above its weight, defence secretary John Hutton said Thursday.

In a BBC interview from Krakow, where NATO defence ministers were meeting Thursday, Hutton said that no decision been made about an increase of British troop levels in southern Afghanistan.

However, if and when an official request was made by the US, he would "look at whether the UK could do more."

"We are playing, certainly, above our weight in the campaign there, so my initial view is it is for others to make further contributions ahead of any extra contributions from the UK," said Hutton.

"The ball is absolutely in Europe's court now and we need to pick it up if we are going to be seen to be responsible, effective allies of the US who are doing all the heavy lifting in Afghanistan," said Hutton.

Britain currently has about 8,300 troops in southern Afghanistan, representing 12 per cent of total NATO deployment in the country. Britain has suffered 145 military casualties in Afghanistan since 2001.

In an interview with the Financial Times Thursday, Hutton dismissed as "tittle-tattle and gossip" reports suggesting that the US military top brass was "unimpressed" with Britain's performance in Afghanistan.

He was "very disappointed" by the criticism, which he believed did not reflect views held in the "Pentagon and elsewhere," said Hutton.

"Our reputation is very important to us. We will very strongly defend it. We will defend it by being open to criticism where it is fair," he said. (dpa)