WASHINGTON (AP):

President Barack Obama says he and the NATO secretary general yesterday discussed increasing alliance effectiveness in the fight against Islamic militants in Afghanistan.

Obama said he hopes the talks and the upcoming new US plan for the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida would "invigorate" NATO participation in the US-led operation, now in its eighth year.

The president and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer also spoke about Obama's desire to put US-Russian relations on a stronger footing during their 25-minute talk at the White House. Obama said he was hoping to improve US links with Moscow in a context consistent with NATO membership.

Found wafter WWII

The alliance was founded after World War II to counter Soviet expansion in Europe.De Hoop Scheffer said that NATO and Russia needed each other and should not hide their differences but should instead air them in careful negotiations.

The two men met yesterday ahead of the NATO summit in Europe early next month, marking the alliance's 60th anniversary.

Emphasising his hopes of improving soured US-Russian relations, Obama also sought to assure the NATO chief, a Dutchman who retires at the end of July, that the United States would not do that at the expense of alliance solidarity.

"My administration is seeking a reset of the relationship with Russia," Obama said, "but in a way that's consistent with NATO membership, and consistent with the need to send a clear signal throughout Europe that we are going to be abide by the central belief that countries who seek and aspire to join NATO are able to join NATO."