After G20, Obama to discuss Afghan plans with NATO
* Obama heads to France for NATO summit after G20
* Hopes to win backing for his Afghan strategy
* Police fear violence on streets after riots
By David Brunnstrom
STRASBOURG, France, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama, after helping broker a deal to tackle the global economic crisis, heads to France on Friday to try to secure NATO backing for a new strategy to turn the tide in Afghanistan.
On his first major foreign trip since taking office on Jan. 20, he called Thursday'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 looking 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 U.S. 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 U.S.-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 U.S.-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-U.S. 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.
Leaders will welcome France's return to full NATO participation after a Franco-U.S. schism dating to the days of Charles de Gaulle and usher in new members Albania and Croatia.
They will look at ways too to rebuild ties with Russia, whose help it sees as vital in a host of global security issues.
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 Mohammad that caused riots in the Muslim world. (Editing by Crispian Balmer and Richard Meares)
* Hopes to win backing for his Afghan strategy
* Police fear violence on streets after riots
By David Brunnstrom
STRASBOURG, France, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama, after helping broker a deal to tackle the global economic crisis, heads to France on Friday to try to secure NATO backing for a new strategy to turn the tide in Afghanistan.
On his first major foreign trip since taking office on Jan. 20, he called Thursday'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 looking 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 U.S. 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 U.S.-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 U.S.-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-U.S. 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.
Leaders will welcome France's return to full NATO participation after a Franco-U.S. schism dating to the days of Charles de Gaulle and usher in new members Albania and Croatia.
They will look at ways too to rebuild ties with Russia, whose help it sees as vital in a host of global security issues.
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 Mohammad that caused riots in the Muslim world. (Editing by Crispian Balmer and Richard Meares)
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