AFP: STRASBOURG (AFP) - NATO leaders pledged thousands more troops for their Afghan mission Saturday and named the organisation's next leader, as violent anti-war demonstrations raged outside the summit.
Britain, Spain and Italy said they would send hundreds of extra troops each to secure Afghanistan's key August presidential election, adding up to what the White House said was a total of "up to 5,000" personnel.
The deal was a victory for new US President Barack Obama, who came to his first NATO summit to promote his new Afghan strategy and warn his allies that Europe would have to shoulder more of the war-fighting burden.
Hardline protesters set fire to the ground floor of a hotel near the summit
"I am pleased that our NATO allies pledged their strong and unanimous support for our new strategy," Obama told reporters.
Although France and Germany were not among the countries who made major new troop commitments, Obama praised President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel as the joint hosts of the 60th anniversary summit.
"This summit and this alliance have delivered," outgoing NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters at the end of the gathering in Strasbourg.
For more on NATO, check out the website here.
NATO protesters. They're largely protesting a U.S. radar installation proposed in the Czech Republic (get background on this project here).
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