News Service from House Harris

EUR: Obama in terror warning to NATO allies

STRASBOURG, France, April 3 AFP - US President Barack Obama has warned his European NATO allies that they face a greater risk of terror attacks than America and that he needs their help to defeat al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

"It is probably more likely that al-Qaeda would be able to launch a serious terrorist attack in Europe than in the United States, because of proximity," Obama said on Friday after arriving in France for a NATO summit.

"We would like to see Europe have much more robust defence capabilities. That is not something we discourage, we are not looking to be the patron of Europe, we are looking to be partners with Europe," he said.

Europe "should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone ... We should not, because this is a joint problem. It requires a joint effort," he added later.

Obama is expected to use the NATO summit, the second leg of his maiden trip to Europe as president after a G20 summit in London on Thursday, to drum up support for his new Afghan strategy.

There are 70,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, mostly under NATO command, battling Taliban insurgents, whose tenacious rebellion is spreading from the rugged and lawless tribal regions around the border with Pakistan.

Obama has decided to send 21,000 extra US troops and is considering deploying 10,000 more, while asking Europe to contribute by providing more soldiers as well as civilian support staff to train the police.

"NATO is the most successful alliance in modern history. The basic premise of NATO was that Europe's security was the United States' security, and vice-versa," Obama said, standing alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"That is its central tenet, that it is a pillar of American foreign policy that has been unchanging over the last 60 years. It is something that I am here to affirm," he added.

Obama's predecessor George W Bush struggled to convince reluctant European allies to increase their commitment, but the new US national security adviser predicts that NATO is now ready to up the ante.

"It would be wrong to conclude that we will not get any contributions, either manpower or resources, because I think that's not going to be the case," General James Jones said in a conference call on Thursday with reporters.

NATO's 60th anniversary summit, starting Friday evening with a dinner for all 28 heads of state and government, is being held in the French city of Strasbourg and on the German side of the Rhine River in Kehl and Baden-Baden.

Landing in Strasbourg in the afternoon, Obama held his first bilateral talks with Sarkozy before hopping over the border in a helicopter to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany ahead of the summit proper.

Photographers were also treated to the first meeting between the world's most famous first ladies, Obama's wife Michelle and Italian-born model-turned-singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

The presidential couple was welcomed to the Rohan Palace by Sarkozy and his wife and the leaders shook hands with wellwishers on the red carpet before inspecting an honour guard and standing to attention to the national anthems.

As if to underline the urgency of the Afghan review, a soldier in the 42-nation NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed on Friday and another wounded in a "hostile incident", the military said in Kabul.

There was trouble too in France, where police confirmed 300 suspects had been arrested overnight as protesters clashed with the 10,000-strong force manning the security cordon around the Strasbourg venue.

The summit will also debate whether and how to thaw ties with Russia, frozen after its war against Georgia in August, and will discuss who will replace Scheffer when he steps down in July.