Budapest  - NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer welcomed Friday's news that Russian troops had completed their withdrawal from Georgia's buffer zone, in accordance with an international deal.

But the secretary general also said it was still too early for NATO to normalize its relations with Russia in the aftermath of the August conflict.

"It is encouraging that Russia seems to be withdrawing its forces back to the pre-conflict lines," de Hoop Scheffer said at a NATO defence ministers' meeting in Budapest.

Budapest - NATO was expected to approve a controversial plan to help Afghanistan fight its thriving drugs industry, whose profits are used by the Taliban to fund the insurgency, diplomats said Friday.

"We are confident that a deal can be reached," a source close to the negotiations told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

On Thursday, Afghan Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Wardak asked his NATO colleagues meeting in Budapest to target drugs laboratories and seize imports of the chemicals that are needed to turn opium into heroin.

"We have asked NATO to support our efforts to destroy the laboratories and to interdict the chemical precursors which are coming from outside the country," Wardak said.

Budapest  - NATO is to deploy up to seven warships off the Somali coast to defend UN ships delivering food aid from attacks by pirates, alliance officials said Thursday.

The decision, taken by NATO defence ministers meeting in Budapest, follows a specific request from United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a similar initiative agreed by the European Union last week.

"There will soon be NATO military vessels off the coast of Somalia, deterring piracy and escorting food shipments," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters.

Budapest - NATO on Thursday said Russia had been fully informed about a cooperation agreement signed in late September by the alliance and the United Nations.

"We briefed the Russians on a regular basis on this. Everybody in the UN knew. We don't understand their concern at this stage," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers' meeting in Budapest.

Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted Russian Defence Minister Sergei Lavrov as expressing "surprise" at what was being described by the Russian media as "a secret deal".

Budapest - NATO defence ministers were Thursday locked in tricky discussions over how best to help the Afghan authorities crack down on the country's illegal drugs industry, whose proceeds are in part used by the Taliban to finance the insurgency.

Speaking ahead of a two-day meeting in Budapest, Afghan Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Wardak said he would ask the alliance "to support our efforts in the counter-narcotics campaign."

Budapest - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Thursday said the global financial crisis should not stand in the way of desired increases in military spending by the alliance's member states.

"The global financial crisis will certainly add pressure to national budgets, but we must defend our joint values and prepare for facing challenges," de Hoop Scheffer told the Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag.

"We need to do more, not only through increased military spending, but also by developing the efficiency of our forces," he said.