CANBERRA (AFP) - Australia will further troops to <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post>    </FORM>Afghanistan to help counter increasing attacks by rebel forces there.

Prime Minister John Howard said a special forces task group of some 150 personnel was expected to be in place by September, when the shattered country is due to hold legislative elections.

"It's fair to say that the progress that's been made in the establishment of a legitimate government in Afghanistan has come under increasing attack and pressure from the Taliban in particular and some elements of Al-Qaeda," Howard told a news conference.

"We have received at a military level requests from the United States and others and the government of Afghanistan and we have therefore decided ... to despatch a special forces task group."

The task force would comprise some 150 personnel, including Special Air Servce troops, commandos and support staff, he said.

"We would expect that group to be in place by September of this year. It will be deployed for a period of 12 months."

Australia deployed some 1,000 troops in support of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, but brought them home towards the end of 2002, leaving just one engineer engaged in demining operations.

The invasion toppled the former Taliban regime and ousted <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post>    </FORM>Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda group from training camps it had used ahead of the September 2001 attacks in the United States.

Howard said Australian defence officials would also examine the possibility of sending a 200-strong "provincial reconstruction team" to Afghanistan between April and June next year.

"We can see great merit in there being such a reconstruction team but it's important that discussions be held with our allies and with the (Afghan) government before a final decision has been taken," he said.

Howard is a close ally of the United States, which said Monday it would send up to 700 extra troops to bolster the 18,000-strong military coalition in Afghanistan.

The coalition forces are being boosted to counter expected attacks by rebels from the ousted Taliban regime, who have launched a new offensive ahead of legislative and local polls in September, the US military said.

In June <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post>    </FORM>NATO said it was deploying an extra 2,000 troops during the election period to join the 8,000 soldiers already in the country under the banner of the International Security Assistance Force.