By Ingrid Melander BRUSSELS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - European Union envoys agreed in principle on Wednesday to send a mission to train Afghanistan's police force, EU diplomats and officials said. Experts are considering a force of about 160 EU police officers and diplomats, one diplomat said, although details of the mission still need to be worked out. "The aim is to strengthen the Afghan police ... help it be in conformity with international standards," the diplomat said. Britain and the Netherlands, who are battling an insurgency in Taliban heartlands in south Afghanistan for NATO along with Canada, have pinpointed the police force as a weak link in efforts to extend President Hamid Karzai's authority. "The mission will work towards an Afghan police force in local ownership, that respects human rights and operates within the framework of the rule of law," a draft text agreed by the EU envoys on Wednesday said. The mission would coordinate various international efforts to train the Afghan police and push for police reform at central, regional and provincial level, the draft said. EU foreign ministers are expected to rubber-stamp the move when they meet in Brussels on Monday. Since 2001, EU countries and institutions have dispersed 3.7 billion euros ($4.8 billion) of aid to Afghanistan, in addition to the cost of deploying troops to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). In November last year, the U.S.-led defence alliance had urged the EU to do more to help civilian reconstruction in the country and pressed it to send a police-training mission. NATO's top operational commander will urge alliance defence ministers meeting in the Spanish city of Seville on Thursday to provide troops to crush an expected Taliban offensive in Afghanistan but many allies remain reluctant to come forward, officials said.
