BRUSSELS, Jan 17 (Xinhua) -- A proposed "contact group" to coordinate international operations in Afghanistan is unlikely to take shape for lack of support among allies, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer indicated on Wednesday.

    "My sense is that it is clear that the international community wants more contact, but not necessarily a new group," Scheffer told reporters at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

    The proposal, pushed by French President Jacques Chirac in the run-up to the NATO Riga Summit last November, is to create an international body consisting of Afghanistan's neighbors, troop contributing countries and other international organizations, similar to the six-country group on UN-administered Kosovo.

    The French government insisted NATO's role in Afghanistan should be purely military, and wanted another framework for better international cooperation on Afghan reconstruction efforts. But the proposal was not welcome by the United States.

    There are about 32,000 NATO troops, including 1,100 French military personnel, now deployed in Afghanistan, who took over responsibility for security from the United States last year.

    Scheffer suggested that although he would like to continue the negotiation, some other existing forums like the Group of Eight (G8) could be used as a substitute, at least on an ad hoc basis.

    The Secretary-General also pressed Pakistan to do more in border control and prevent Taliban and al Qaida insurgents from using Pakistan as basis to make cross-border strikes.

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