VILNIUS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Canada sent senior officials to Paris on Friday to sound out the French government on a possible offer of support for 2,500 Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

In what would be a major setback for the NATO peacekeeping mission, Canada has said it will pull its soldiers from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on schedule next February unless other NATO nations provide an extra 1,000 troops there.

French Defence Minister Herve Morin told reporters at a NATO meeting that Paris was willing to help Canada but had taken no decision on deploying troops or equipment. France currently has some 1,300 troops based mostly in the capital Kabul.

A Canadian Defence Ministry spokesman confirmed the delegation was travelling to France but declined comment on a Canadian television report that they were going to negotiate the transfer of 700 French troops to the south.

"There was no specific commitment made by the (French) minister at the talks yesterday," the spokesman said of a first day of talks among NATO defence chiefs in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay urged nations to come forward with offers.

Morin said on Thursday France was studying deployment options as part of a wider reorganisation of the 43,000-strong NATO-led Afghan peace force which he expected to be discussed at an April 2-4 alliance summit in Bucharest.

Canada's minority government plans a parliamentary vote of confidence in late March on prolonging its military mission in Afghanistan, officials said earlier this week. (Reporting by Mark John; Editing by Catherine Evans)

AlertNet news is provided by