The Netherlands will send a further 80 soldiers to Afghanistan to support Dutch troops serving in the troubled south of the country as part of a NATO mission, the government said on Friday.

Troops would leave within the next few days and would serve provisionally for two months near the town of Deh Rawod, where a Dutch soldier died earlier this month, and where fighting with insurgents has intensified.

"NATO asked the Netherlands to send extra units to Uruzgan. The government has decided to meet this request," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The Dutch news agency ANP quoted Wouter Bos, deputy prime minister and finance minster, as saying on Friday: "It is irresponsible to leave troops there without extra assistance."

Between 1,500 and 1,700 Dutch troops are serving in Afghanistan, on a mission due to last until August 2008.

The government has yet to decide whether to keep the troops there beyond that date, as growing casualties increase public pressure to withdraw them.