US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday rebuffed calls from the Democrats for greater NATO role in Iraq, saying that the United States can only pursue what is "achievable."

"It's a nice, clever, gimmicky line, but Senator (Joseph) Bidenknows as well as I do that 16 of the 26 NATO nations are already represented there," Powell said in an interview with the ABC television network.

Powell made the remarks when asked to respond to Democrat Senator Biden's suggestion that President George W. Bush should personally involve in diplomacy to seek NATO's formal participation in the efforts to stabilize a violence-stricken Iraq.

"There is no huge body of troops waiting in NATO to go to Iraq.What the president has to do is to move forward with what is achievable, not what is seen in a desirable sense but it isn't achievable," the secretary said.

However, he said, President Bush will have a chance to discuss with his NATO allies in Istanbul at the end of June at a NATO summit meeting what other possibilities exist with respect to NATOsupport for the efforts in Iraq.

"Some of the larger countries in NATO that have not contributedtroops have made it clear they don't intend to -- Germany and France. But there are other things they might be able to do, and that's what the president will be pursuing," Powell said.

He said the United States has not ignored NATO, but right now, it needs to stay the course in Iraq to go ahead with a plan to transfer power to Iraqis on June 30.

Source: Xinhua