NATO Leaders Resist Demands for More Troops in Afghanistan (borders, Barack Obama, rating)

[Bjorn_Ironside32]

STRASBOURG, France - France and Germany fully endorsed President Barack Obama's new Afghan war strategy but continued to firmly resist U.S. demands for more combat troops on Saturday at the start of NATO's 60th-anniversary summit.

Obama told NATO leaders the alliance should remain open to new members, another stance that is likely to meet resistance from his allies. Germany, France and many other NATO nations believe that any more eastward expansion will further damage ties Russia that the alliance is trying hard to mend.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and two dozen other NATO leaders walked across a bridge separating Germany and France in a moment of unity before the summit began. The leaders met French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the halfway point on the Europa bridge spanning the Rhine river -- a symbolic departure from the enmity that once tore apart Europe and a setting aside of current differences, at least for a few minutes.

NATO's ability to succeed in Afghanistan is seen as a crucial test of the power and relevance of the alliance founded to counterbalance the Soviet Union and now fighting a rising insurgency far beyond its borders. European leaders and voters remain deeply skeptical about whether more troops can stabilize a country devastated by decades of war.

NATO Leaders Resist Demands for More Troops in Afghanistan - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2009/04/04/allied-reluctance-likely-obamas-push-troops-afghanistan/100days/ - broken link)

[doc1]

That must be some of that "leadership" our President praised the Euros on.