By Andrew North BBC correspondent in Kabul

The alliance's troops have been concentrated in the capital, Kabul

Nato has troops in five northern provinces as well as its main deployment in Kabul, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

There are now about 9,000 soldiers in the country under the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

However, some feel the alliance has still not met all its commitments.

'Over the horizon'

Nato has been in charge of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan since late last year, its first so-called out-of-area mission.

At the time, it said this was now its priority and it was committed to expanding beyond Kabul, where it has been praised for helping maintain peace and stability.

But it proved a hard promise to fulfil.

At Nato's June summit, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had to plead with member states to send in extra troops in time to safeguard the elections next week.

The additional 2,000 troops that are now here only started arriving a few weeks ago, giving them little time to acclimatise and acquire local knowledge of the threats they may face.

There are fears the polls could see an upsurge in violence and there are many who feel the alliance has still not fully met its commitments because some of the extra troops are based outside Afghanistan - or "over the horizon" - where they are available if needed.