NATO will send troops to Macedonia to help disarm ethnic Albanian rebels if Slav and ethnic Albanian leaders can agree a solution to the crisis.
The body says it will act swiftly to secure a peace plan if it can be worked out between the two sides in the Balkans.
The alliance has agreed to send a brigade-sized force to supervise the disarming of National Liberation Army fighters who have given up their weapons voluntarily.
One NATO official estimated the proposed number at about 3,000.
The troops, who would probably not come from the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in nearby Kosovo, would remain in the country "something like six weeks rather than six months," one official said.
He said the alliance must now prepare a plan to determine the type of force required, the precise number of troops involved and which NATO countries would contribute.
Several NATO allies have offered contributions and the US is expected to be a participant, even if only a minor one.
Officials emphasised NATO is prepared to move only after an agreement among the Macedonian parties themselves. The ethnic Albanians are demanding changes to the constitution to give them more rights.
Talks today were deadlocked on the sixth day of negotiations. "Without such an agreement, we will certainly not go into Macedonia," said the NATO official.
In a statement NATO members "reaffirmed the urgent need for a successful outcome of the political dialogue" between Slav and ethnic Albanian politicians.
PA