(BRUSSELS) - The European Union is expected to confirm next week plans to double the size of its police mission in Afghanistan to some 400 personnel, according to diplomats and a document seen Friday.

"EU foreign ministers at their meeting in Brussels will want to show their determination to boost cooperation" ahead of a June 12 international aid conference in Paris, a European diplomat said.

A draft statement prepared by ambassadors ahead of Monday's talks said: "The EU will commit itself to substantially increase its efforts, with the aim of doubling" the police contingent.

The so-called EUPOL Afghanistan mission is expected be virtually "double the size over the next 12 months," another diplomat confirmed.

On March 10, the foreign ministers said they intended to boost the police training operation, amid US-led calls for thousands of instructors to be sent to the conflict-torn country.

The EU "expresses its readiness to consider further enhancement of EU engagement, particularly in the field of police and wider rule of law," they said at the time.

But on Monday the ministers are expected to go into more detail, even if their final declaration will not contain any numbers.

The EU's police mission had been due to rise to around 230 police, law enforcement and justice experts, as well as administrative staff, deployed throughout the country, and not just Kabul as originally planned.

Its aim is to help build the Afghan police force, as well as mentor and advise interior ministry officials.

However the mission has come in for criticism, notably from NATO and the United States.

In September, NATO's civilian representative to Afghanistan criticised the lack of EU efforts, stressing that Afghan police remained widely corrupt and inefficient, aiding drug-trafficking.

Later that month, the US ambassador to NATO, Victoria Nuland told a German newspaper that some 5,000 instructors would be needed to help train Afghan police, a far higher number than the EU had planned for.

According to press reports, Germany, which is leading the police efforts, has said it would be prepared to double he number of its police officers in Afghanistan if other European nations do the same.

The number of German police officers would grow from 60 to 120.

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