Brussels - Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday became the 42nd nation to join NATO's counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan, alliance officials said.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said a document "formally recognizing Bosnia-Herzegovina as a non-NATO ISAF contributing nation" was signed at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Bosnia's defence minister, Selmo Cikotic.

ISAF, which stands for International Security Assistance Force, is NATO's largest and most delicate mission. It currently relies on 56,420 soldiers from 41 nations, of which
15 are not members of the alliance.

The United States has announced plans to deploy a further 17,000 soldiers to Afghanistan, all of whom will be operating under ISAF command.

Bosnia is to initially send a limited number of forces before boosting its numbers at a later stage.

The document was signed during a meeting at NATO which was also attended by Bosnia's foreign minister, Sven Alkalaj.

Bosnia joined NATO's Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), which is open to countries wishing to deepen their relationship with the alliance, in January 2008. Three months later, at the alliance's summit in Bucharest, it joined NATO's Intensified Dialogue, a precursor to eventual membership.

However, NATO allies on Wednesday expressed "concern" about the country's "difficult political climate", which is slowing down the pace of the reforms it needs to approve before it can join the alliance, Appathurai said. (dpa)