NATO decided Friday to deploy AWACS radar aircraft to Afghanistan to monitor the growing traffic of aerial missions against Taliban insurgents, the Western military alliance said.

Allies reached an agreement for the "AWACS to begin their operations in Afghanistan in mid-January," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told AFP.

Two planes will take part in the three-month mission, she said.

An agreement in principle to deploy the Airborne Warning and Control System planes, which are fitted with long-range radar allowing them to detect other aircraft and prevent mid-air collisions, had been reached in June 2009.

But the deployment of the planes -- which act like airbone control towers -- was delayed due to difficulties in securing the right to fly over certain countries neighbouring Afghanistan.