NATO anniversary

United States President Barack Obama has tried to assuage German concerns that Washington will use this weekend's NATO summit to press Berlin for more troops to secure Afghanistan.

"I don't come bearing grand designs," Obama said at a joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel in the western German town of Baden-Baden on Friday.

The deteriorating situation in Afghanistan was expected to be one of the main topics at NATO's 60th anniversary meeting, held symbolically in the French city of Strasbourg and the German towns of Baden-Baden and Kehl.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Obama said he was "here to listen, to share ideas, and jointly -- as one of many NATO allies -- to help shape our vision for the future."

Obama described Germany as an exemplary ally in Afghanistan, which has suffered increasing violence since the US-led invasion of 2001. Merkel noted that Germany, which currently has over 3,500 troops deployed in the country's north, had a "huge responsibility" and would "face up to this responsibility in military terms as well."

However, Obama also held the door open for US demands from European partners in comments that signaled Washington's resolve to change strategy.

"We will all now have to make additional and sustainable efforts to succeed ... Our role is not to occupy Afghanistan," but to prevent it from becoming a safe-haven for terrorists," the US leader said.

"If we discover that the approach we are taking is not effective, it's not working, then we will change it."

Germany has balked at sending more troops to Afghanistan, where the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is struggling to contain an escalating Taliban insurgency while reconstructing the country.

However, Merkel said she "welcomed" the US plans to change its strategy there.

NATO politics

On a separate issue likely to plague NATO leaders, Merkel said the western military alliance should choose its next leader this Friday.

"I am convinced we should name a new secretary-general tonight," Merkel said, adding that Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen would make an "excellent choice."

Rasmussen's nomination has angered the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's only Islamic member-state, Turkey. Ankara regards the Danish premier as one of Turkey's principle detractors in the European Union.

Obama's star appeal

Obama's brief meeting with Merkel was preceded by talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Strasbourg. In both countries he was accompanied by cheering crowds, confirming the US leader's superstar status in Europe.

Smiling and visibly touched as he walked through the French city, Obama greeted spectators with handshakes and calls of "Nice to see you" and "It's good to be here." At one point, he even leaned into the crowd to kiss a young woman.

The latest bi-monthly tracking poll, conducted by the German public broadcast network ARD (of which Deutsche Welle is a member), found that 82 percent of Germans were looking forward to Obama's visit this week, and just over three-quarters said they wished Germany could produce a politician like him.

In a vote of confidence that German politicians could only dream of, four out of five Germans said they were pleased with Obama 's performance in his first two months in office, and nearly nine out of ten said that Obama had set the US back on the right track.

nw/sh/dpa/rtr/afp/ap