BRUSSELS, Dec 9: US Secretary of State Colin Powell accused European allies of undermining NATO on Thursday by refusing to allow staff seconded to the alliance to take part in its military training mission in Iraq.

The attack showed a transatlantic rift between Washington and opponents of the Iraq invasion was not healed, despite pledges by other countries at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to send more troops to expand its fledgling mission in Baghdad.

"When it comes time to perform a mission, it seems to to us to be quite awkward for suddenly members of that international staff to say I am unable to go," he told a news conference.

"Your are hurting the credibility and cohesion (of such an) international staff organisation," said Mr Powell on what is likely his last visit to NATO headquarters before handing over to successor Condoleezza Rice.

NATO sources say France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Greece will not send any of their staff serving at the alliance to Iraq. Those countries dismiss US objections, saying they made that point clear when the training mission was agreed last June.

"There will be no (French) officers or soldiers in Iraq," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told reporters. "Given the current security situation, we think it is more efficient and useful if training takes place outside of Iraq."

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer welcomed pledges by other countries including Poland, Hungary, Norway and the Netherlands to send more staff to the training mission, located within Baghdad's international Green Zone. -Reuters