U.S. President Barack Obama was mobbed by cheering crowds after arriving in France Friday for a NATO summit, where he hopes to secure backing for his new strategy over Afghanistan.

Obama helped broker a deal at a G20 summit in London on Thursday to tackle the global financial crisis and will be hoping for a similarly broad accord at the two-day NATO summit on how to turn the tide against the worsening Afghan crisis.

"He will talk about a strong partnership with Europe, but in that partnership there have to be mutual responsibilities," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling with the U.S. president from Britain to France.

"We have to understand there are real threats out there in the world."

Obama was cheered by well-wishers squashed behind security barriers when he arrived in the city of Strasbourg, receiving a kiss from a woman in the crowd as he headed for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The U.S. leader unveiled a new Afghan strategy last week that aims to get a grip on rising violence by Taliban militants driven from power in 2001 but never completely defeated.

It broadens the focus to include Pakistan and puts the highest priority on the defeat of al Qaeda militants who Obama says are plotting new attacks on the United States.

Having already announced plans to add 17,000 U.S. combat troops to the 38,000 already there, Obama said he would send 4,000 more to help train Afghan officials to combat problems such as the booming narcotics trade and government corruption.

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