Australia's defence minister said Friday the government was likely to deploy more troops to Afghanistan, where Taliban rebels have stepped up their insurgency.
Brendan Nelson said the extra troops would be in addition to 300 special services forces and a 240-strong military reconstruction team already committed to the country.
"At the moment we're getting people ready for further deployment to Afghanistan," Nelson told reporters.
"We believe there is an argument for increasing our numbers in terms of close protection, and we are preparing some soldiers to go," he said, adding that Prime Minister John Howard would announce details next week.
A defence ministry spokesman told AFP the reinforcement would likely involve a company of around 100 soldiers.
Australia's troops are operating in southern Afghanistan, where seven international soldiers were killed this week in clashes with supporters of the ousted Taliban regime.
Troops and police have killed around 1,000 rebels in a major operation in the south over the past few months, while more than 60 foreign soldiers and scores of Afghan civilians and security forces have also died.
