STRASBOURG, France, April 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama praised here on Saturday NATO allies for pledging to contribute more resources to support his new strategy in Afghanistan.

    "I am pleased that our NATO allies pledged their strong and unanimous support for our new strategy," Obama told a press conference at the end of a two-day NATO summit.

US President Barack Obama addresses during a press conference after the NATO summit in Strasbourg, France, April 4, 2009. Obama praised here on Saturday NATO allies for pledging to contribute more resources to support his new strategy in Afghanistan. (Xinhua/Wu Wei) Photo Gallery>>>

    "These commitments of troops, trainers and civilians represent a strong down payment" toward securing Afghanistan, he said, referring to the allies' agreement to send 5,000 more personnel to the war-torn Asian nation to train Afghan military forces and police.

    The additional forces include around 3,000 on short-term deployments to ensure presidential elections in Afghanistan in August and 2,000 trainers.

    "We've started to match real resources to achieve our goals," he said, urging for more.

    "We'll need more resources and a sustained effort to achieve our ultimate goals" of safeguarding Afghanistan, Europe and the United States, he added, saying that those figures should not be taken as a ceiling.

    "This effort cannot be America's alone. All of NATO understands that al-Qaida is a threat to all of us and that this collective security effort must achieve its goals," he said.

    Obama announced at the end of last month a new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan to send 17,000 troops and another 4,000 military and police trainers.

    NATO allies refused to send more combat troops to Afghanistan, but pledging more help in training Afghan military and police forces.

    "The trainers we are sending in are no less important than those in direct combat with the Taliban," Obama said.

    Asked when he expected the war in Afghanistan to end, He said "We are going to get this job done."

    The summit focused on Afghanistan, NATO ties with Russia, the launching of NATO's Strategic Concept and the choice of a new NATO chief.