Obama brings Afghan plan to NATO allies

And Russia vehemently opposes membership for Georgia and Ukraine, whose pro-Western leaders want to bring their nations into the alliance.

Other items on the packed agenda include starting work on a new doctrine that will define the alliance's role and values in the 21st century and choosing a new secretary-general.

While NATO leaders have emphasized that the meeting Friday and Saturday must be more than just a birthday celebration, no major breakthroughs are expected on key issues facing the alliance.

The two-day conference -- co-hosted by the Rhine river cities of Strasbourg and Kehl, Germany -- is the second of three major international meetings taking place in Europe this week.

Obama and the leaders of the Group of 20 nations made headway Thursday on tackling the world's worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The U.S. president's meeting with European Union leaders in Prague on Sunday also will focus on economic issues.

The leaders may also announce a decision on NATO's new secretary-general, who will succeed Dutch diplomat Jaap de Hoop Scheffer whose term runs out Aug. 1.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has emerged at the leading candidate, despite opposition from Turkey. Fogh Rasmussen infuriated many Muslims by speaking out in favor of freedom of speech during an uproar over Danish publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006.

On Friday, a spokeswoman for Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal Party said the Danish leader had confirmed for the first time that he was a candidate.

Turkey's prime minister expressed strong opposition to Fogh Rasmussen's candidacy but did not say whether Turkey would veto it.

The sites of the summit straddling the French-German border were swathed in police and security cordons as demonstrators from several countries poured in with a panoply of demands from pulling out of Afghanistan to building a new and more just world economic order. Up to 65,000 protesters may rally on both sides of the border, authorities said.

During clashes on Thursday and early Friday, French police detained 107 anti-NATO demonstrators for their for their role in violent clashes before the two-day summit.

Riot police using tear gas and rubber bullets forced hundreds of demonstrators off the streets of Strasbourg Thursday night back into a tent camp on the edge of the city. Demonstrators destroyed telephone booths and attempted to build barricades before they were stopped, a police spokesman said.

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