Strasbourg, France  - United States President Barack Obama on Saturday brokered a deal with Turkey, which assured the appointment of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO's next secretary general.

"Rasmussen is an outstanding public servant, somebody with an extraordinary reputation," Obama said at the end of a two-day summit of alliance leaders in France and Germany.

"I have confidence that he is the right man to help lead NATO during a period in which we are moving from a vision first created in the 20th century to a vision which responds to 21st century challenges," Obama said after attending his first NATO summit.

The current secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said all heads of state and government "believed that Anders Fogh Rasmussen was the man to lead NATO and the 28 members through the 21st century."

However, unanimity over Rasmussen was only achieved after Obama managed to convince Turkey to drop objections to the Danish premier.

"Obama played the main role in ensuring Turkey would accept Rasmussen," senior German officials said.

Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, also thanked the US president for his "positive contribution."

Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, had strongly objected to Rasmussen because of his handling of the 2005 and 2006 row over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that appeared in Danish media and which angered large sectors of the Muslim world.

It had also criticized the alleged broadcasting from Denmark of a television station close to the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara views as a terrorist organization.

The controversy, which threatened to mar NATO's 60th birthday summit, was finally resolved when Turkey received assurances from both Obama and Rasmussen that "its concerns would be addressed," Gul said.

Rasmussen said he "fully understood" Turkey's concerns and vowed to look into the TV issue.

"I want to do everything to achieve a good relationship with the Islamic world," Rasmussen said.

On top of the words of reassurance, NATO insiders said Turkey had also been promised a top post within the alliance.

Describing the summit as "a success," de Hoop Scheffer later said NATO allies had also agreed to beef up the training programs for Afghanistan's police and armed forces, and that more soldiers would be deployed in the strife-torn country to secure the August elections.

"When it comes to Afghanistan, this summit and this alliance has delivered," de Hoop Scheffer said.

During the two-day gathering, German Chancellor Angel Merkel had described Afghanistan as "a litmus test for us all."

Merkel, who co-hosted the summit with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said her country was ready to contribute more soldiers, trainers and money towards "the Afghanistanization" of the country.

Obama later said that NATO allies had pledged 3,000 soldiers for the election period, 300 police trainers, 70 training teams for the Afghan army and 100 million dollars in funds to support the Afghan army, as well as 500 million dollars for civilian reconstruction.

These pledges come on top of Obama's recent decision to deploy 17,000 additional soldiers and 4,000 trainers to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

Earlier Saturday, Obama and de Hoop Scheffer formally welcomed Albania and Croatia into the alliance, with the US president offering leaders of the two countries a copy of NATO's 1949 founding treaty.

France was also welcomed back into NATO's integrated military command structure after an absence of 43 years. (dpa)