KABUL — Canada's plan to send a fresh armoured reconnaissance squadron to Afghanistan is the kind of muscle international troops will need to bolster lightly armed reconstruction teams, the Canadian general in charge of the NATO-led peace effort said Thursday.

NATO must balance provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) with bigger guns when the current mission in Afghanistan expands into the countryside, said Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force.

Canada plans to send an infantry company and a Coyote armoured squadron based in Edmonton when its contribution shrinks from 2,100 to around 500 in August.

Canada's Coyote reconnaissance capability is the best in the world, Hillier said. The Coyote has thermal imaging equipment and radar that allows it to monitor movements up to 20 kilometres away. It also has thick armour, a machine-gun and a 25-mm cannon.

"I'd love to see that as a continued commitment from Canada," Hillier said in an interview. "As commander of ISAF, the reconnaissance squadron I view as absolutely essential to the mission here and Canada happens to be the country with the world-class reconnaissance and surveillance capability right now."

Later this month, NATO leaders including Canadian Defence Minister David Pratt are set to meet in Berlin to debate how to move beyond Kabul and the 200 German troops that are assisting construction efforts in the small city of Kunduz.

NATO has proposed moving into a swath of northern Afghanistan, including a half-dozen cities. Hillier said Canada's reported plan to send an armoured reconnaissance unit, in addition to a PRT, is the type of help he will need.

"I think provincial reconstruction teams - plus a bit more - are an absolute requirement," Hillier said. "PRTS are good. Mobile forces are good. Together they're awesome."

Germany has set up the first ISAF reconstruction team while the United States and Britain have set up others outside the NATO effort.

The teams include engineers, medical personnel and civil-military co-operation personnel and security troops to help rebuild and pave the way for civilian aide organizations.

Eurocorps, an army unit formed by France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg, is expected to replace Canada in August at the helm of the NATO-led peacekeepers.

On Tuesday, warlords and brigade commanders in the Kabul region turned over more than a dozen tanks to the defence ministry, bringing about one-quarter of the heavy weapons in the capital area under the control of ISAF and the Afghanistan National Army.

Hillier, who attended the event, said momentum for peace is "palpable" in Afghanistan.

"That convinces soldiers who fought the Russians and fought the terrorists that it is the right time to be equally brave in peace and to start turning in those vehicles," he said.

"That is not an easy move for them."

The compound that holds the tanks delivered Thursday is surrounded by a crumbling brick and mud wall. Hillier said he is still confident the weapons, mainly Soviet-era tanks, will not fall into the wrong hands.

"There are many ways to secure a place like this here," he said. "First of all, the longer they sit here the harder it will be to start and use them."