NATO-Gipfel soll Schwerpunkt auf Afghanistan legen[en] 

US-led forces drove the Taliban from power in Kabul in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks on US targets, which were planned by Osama bin Laden from bases in Afghanistan. 

There are currently some 70,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, of which the United States supplies 38,000. 

Western powers are concerned not only by the Taliban's advances in Afghanistan, but also by its influence in Pakistan, where Islamic militants have disrupted NATO's supply convoys to Afghanistan and are securing concessions from the government in Islamabad. 

On 17 February, US President Barack Obama authorised sending an additional 17,000 US soldiers to Afghanistan, including more than 12,000 combat forces, to counter an increasingly fierce Taliban insurgency. US officials have long been frustrated by European reluctance to make new long-term troop commitments to the Afghan mission. 

Recently, the EU decided to engage more in Afghanistan by wielding 'soft power' of "better quality and quantity," like providing assistance for presidential elections due on 20 August, for civilian programmes and for nation-building (EurActiv 23/02/09). 

On his first major foreign trip since taking office on January 20, he called yesterday's accord at the G20 summit in London a "turning point" for the world economy. 

He will be hoping for a similar breakthrough on the worsening crisis in Afghanistan, and will look to other NATO leaders for support at the military alliance's two-day summit being held on both the French and German sides of the Rhine. 

His new Afghan strategy was unveiled last week, and aims to try to get a grip on rising violence by Taliban militants driven from power in 2001 but never completely defeated. 

It broadens the focus to include Pakistan and puts the highest priority on the defeat of al Qaeda militants, who Obama says are plotting new attacks on the United States. 

Having already announced plans to add 17,000 more US combat troops to the 38,000 already there, Obama said he would send 4,000 more to help train the Afghan army and add civilian personnel to tackle problems such as the booming narcotics trade and government corruption. 

He has stressed the need for international cooperation to turn the tide, with insurgent violence reaching its highest level since US-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai also said this week he needed regional cooperation to tackle terrorism. 

The NATO mission has been criticised for disorganisation, but European leaders have been reluctant to commit more forces to an increasingly unpopular war among voters. 

Obama arrives in France in mid-morning and will hold bilateral talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy and take part in a US-style "town hall" meeting, before hopping across the border for discussions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

The NATO summit starts in the evening with a dinner. 

Anti-NATO demonstrators have vowed to disrupt the summit and riot police clashed with hundreds of protesters on Thursday in Strasbourg in France, repeatedly firing tear gas and rubber bullets and arresting around 200 youths. 

Symbolic celebration 

Obama has said that countries that felt unable to commit more military forces to Afghanistan should at least boost help for the civilian effort. 

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has called on non-US allies to send up to 4,000 more troops to safeguard August elections. He also wants them to make up a long-standing shortfall in training teams for the Afghan army and commit to a revamped police training mission under NATO command. 

The summit marks NATO's 60th anniversary and its venue, straddling the frontier of foes-turned-allies France and Germany, will be packed with symbolism aimed at celebrating an alliance originally created to defend Europe's borders. 

Enlargement to slow 

Leaders will welcome France's return to full NATO participation after a Franco-US schism dating to the days of Charles de Gaulle and usher in new members Albania and Croatia. 

But NATO's steady post-Cold War enlargement to the east will take a pause after the admission of Albania and Croatia at a summit on Friday, while the alliance refocuses on warming its ties with Russia, diplomats said. 

The soon-to-be 28-nation military pact firmly rejects any idea that Moscow has influence on who becomes a member. But NATO capitals have long acknowledged as a factor the Russian belief that enlargement is an unfriendly encroachment on its space. 

Moreover the unreadiness of would-be members Macedonia, Ukraine and Georgia, and the more pragmatic approach of President Obama on the issue, means NATO expansion is squarely on the back burner for now. 

The Balkans duo could have been joined by Macedonia, but its hopes of accession were dashed last year when Greece vetoed its bid over a continuing 17-year dispute over its name, which is also that of Greece's northernmost province (EurActiv 04/04/08). 

"This is not an enlargement summit," said one alliance diplomat, playing down prospects of any serious talk among NATO leaders this week on the status of aspiring members. 

Leaders will look at ways too to rebuild ties with Russia, whose help it sees as vital in a host of global security issues. 

In search of new secretary-general 

De Hoop Scheffer is due to stand down in July and NATO had wanted to name his successor at the summit, but concerns over its image in the Muslim world and elsewhere are hampering the quest for the right candidate. 

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is the front runner, but NATO member Turkey is unhappy with his handling of a 2006 row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which caused riots in the Muslim world. 

(EurActiv with Reuters.)