UPDATE 2-US offers anti-IED aid to NATO allies in Afghanistan

* US promises equipment to protect allied forces

* US law means equipment will be Iraq surplus

* France says to send around 80 trainers

(Adds Pentagon press secretary)

By Adam Entous and Ayla Jean Yackley

ISTANBUL, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The United States promised on Friday to provide armoured vehicles, ground penetrating radar and other equipment to NATO allies to help protect their troops in Afghanistan from increasingly deadly roadside bombs.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a gathering of NATO countries in Istanbul they would be offered surplus equipment that is in Iraq but no longer needed by U.S. forces there.

His pledge was coupled with a personal appeal for allies to send up to 4,000 more trainers and mentors to Afghanistan to help ready the country's army and police to gradually take control of security.

"Today I told our allies that the United States will be able to offer them more intelligence, training and equipment including jammers, route clearance robots, surveillance systems and ground-penetrating radar," Gates told a news conference.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the U.S. offer was an important step and could help persuade NATO states pledge more troops and trainers, and urged them to "dig deep".

"We need more, a lot more," he told the news conference.

Some NATO states have linked additional force commitments to more help from Washington in countering the threat posed by so-called improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which kill more Western troops than any other weapon in the Taliban's arsenal.

The Western death toll from IEDs has soared in Afghanistan, prompting Gates to make production of new protective vehicles for U.S. troops a top priority.

TRAINING PROGRAMME

The United States has ramped up production of all-terrain Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAPS), built by Oshkosh Corp. (OSK.N), but Pentagon officials have made clear those vehicles would go to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The vehicles have a v-shaped hull that offers better protection against IEDs than less armoured Humvees and other land vehicles.

Gates said the surplus MRAPs from Iraq that will be given to NATO allies did not have the off-road capabilities of the newer all-terrain vehicles going to U.S. troops. "But they are certainly better protection than our allies have right now."

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said "potentially" hundreds of surplus MRAPs could be sold, loaned or donated to NATO allies in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military will also provide NATO allies with expanded real-time access to classified databases about IEDs. U.S. counter-IED experts will also give NATO forces pre-deployment training.

The training programme, particularly for the police, has been under-resourced for years but has become a more urgent priority since U.S. President Barack Obama in December set the goal of gradually handing over security responsibility to the Afghans and drawing down U.S. forces starting in July 2011.

Last year Obama ordered the deployment of 30,000 additional U.S. troops to battle a resurgent Taliban. Allies from around 36 countries have pledged around 9,000 more, but there remains a big shortfall in trainers for Afghan forces, not least due to safety concerns.

The Pentagon expected France to agree to contribute hundreds of trainers to Afghanistan in line with Germany's increase. U.S. defense officials had no immediate comment on the 80 additions announced by Paris. (Editing by David Brunnstrom and Jon Boyle)