Strasbourg, France  - NATO heads of state and government headed to Strasbourg and Baden Baden on Friday to attend a summit marking the alliance's 60th birthday.

It will be the first NATO summit with new US President Barack Obama, who like a number of other leaders was due to arrive directly from London after attending a G20 meeting in the British capital.

Albanian President Sali Berisha and Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader were also set to make their debuts at the high table after their countries officially became fully fledged NATO members this week.

The two-day summit is being co-hosted by France and Germany in a powerful symbol of post World War II reconciliation. But NATO officials said they were not keeping any champagne on ice.

"We are not celebrating. The secretary general wants to see results come out of this meeting," a NATO insider said.

Issues up for discussions include strained relations with Russia, the role of the alliance in a changing world, whether to appoint Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the next NATO chief, as well as NATO's struggling operations in Afghanistan.

Speaking ahead of the summit, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said her country expected allies to contribute more soldiers, trainers and money to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission.

"The NATO summit is not a pledging conference, but of course we'll be talking about how our allies can match their resources to the needs identified in the (US) strategic review," Clinton said.

The US currently provides about half of all the forces taking part in the 62,000-strong ISAF mission. Part of Obama's strategic review of Afghan operations, unveiled in Washington last week, involve the deployment of an additional 17,000 troops, as well as 4,000 more experts to train Afghan security forces.

Officials in Washington hope that European allies will follow their example.

"What we decided to do was to give all of the NATO allies, EU members, countries in the region, everyone who we think has a stake in the future of Afghanistan, to do their own internal review and to take a hard look at what they believe is their highest and best contribution," Clinton said.

By calling for greater efforts on the civilian side, the US strategic review addresses the reluctance of many European nations to commit more combat troops against the Taliban insurgency.

It also seeks a greater involvement by Afghanistan's neighbours, most notably Pakistan, but also Iran.

On Tuesday, Clinton said her special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, had held informal talks with Iran's deputy foreign minister during a UN conference on Afghanistan in The Hague. However, the meeting was later denied by officials in Tehran.

NATO and US officials expect allies to commit more troops for Afghanistan's national elections in August, as well as more money to sustain the country's 134,000-strong army.

The NATO summit was taking place amid heavy security, with police arresting some 300 protesters in Strasbourg on Thursday. (dpa)