Obama Promotes Afghanistan Strategy to NATO Allies

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Meanwhile, President Obama and other NATO leaders convened a summit today in France. The president also engaged in a kind of goodwill campaign to win over hearts and minds in Europe.

Ray Suarez has our report.

U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

Good afternoon. Bon apres-midi and guten tag.

RAY SUAREZ:

The president brought the air of an American political campaign to the banks of the Rhine in eastern France. He and First Lady Michelle Obama arrived to a thunderous reception at a town hall meeting in Strasbourg.

The Alsatian border city is hosting the 60th anniversary meetings of NATO, the transatlantic alliance.

BARACK OBAMA:

I've come to Europe this week to renew our partnership.

RAY SUAREZ:

The audience — mostly French and German citizens — listened as Mr. Obama bluntly assessed Euro-American relations, frayed by the Iraq war and a kind of mutual contempt.

BARACK OBAMA:

In recent years, we've allowed our alliance to drift. I know that there have been honest disagreements over policy, but we also know that there's something more that has crept into our relationship.

In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious.

On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. So let me say this as clearly as I can: America is changing, but it cannot be America alone that changes.

RAY SUAREZ:

The president pressed the crowd to support the American-led war in Afghanistan. That war, now in its eighth year, is a NATO effort. The U.S. is adding another 20,000 troops to the fight this year.

BARACK OBAMA:

So I understand that there's doubt about this war in Europe. There's doubt at times even in the United States. But…

… this is a mission that tests whether nations can come together in common purpose on behalf of our common security.

RAY SUAREZ:

Amid all the grave talk, there were also moments of levity, as when the president opened the floor to questions.

QUESTIONER:

And first of all, I wanted to tell you that your name in Hungarian means "peach," if you…

BARACK OBAMA:

Peach?

QUESTIONER:

Yes.

BARACK OBAMA:

Oh, OK. Well, how about that? I did not know that.