国际英语新闻：Obama pledges to revive transatlantic relations, urging Europe to back his new Afghanistan st

STRASBOURG, April 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama pledged on Friday to revive relations between his country and Europe, while earlier he urged Europeans to support his new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan to crush terror.

    "I have come to Europe this week to renew our partnership, where America listens and learns from our friends and allies, but where friends and allies bear their share of the burden," Obama told a gathering of French and German youths in Strasbourg. "Together we must forge common solutions to our common problems."

    Speaking to a press conference after meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama asked Europe to make further contributions to the anti-terror war in Afghanistan. "This is not an American mission, this is a NATO mission. This is an international mission," he said. "We are not waging a war against Afghanistan. We are trying to help Afghanistan to rebuild."

    Obama admitted that transatlantic relations suffered in the past years. "We must be honest with ourselves. In recent years, we've allowed our alliance to drift", he said. "They fail to acknowledge the truth that America cannot meet the challenges of this century alone and that Europe cannot confront them without America."

    He also admitted that the anti-terror war in Afghanistan is a hard one. "I understand this war has been long. Our allies have already contributed greatly to this endeavor," Obama said. But he assured that it's a necessity, "(I) Understand we would not deploy our own troops if this mission was not indispensable to our common security."

    Obama asked Europeans to change their often negative attitudes toward the United States. "America is changing. But it cannot be America alone that changes." He said the economic crisis has proven that the United States and Europe are interdependent "in the most visible way." The United States and Europe are confronted with the greatest economic crisis since World War II and the uNPRecedented crisis needs uNPRecedented coordination, he said.

    He is expected to urge NATO allies at the summit for more civilian assistance to Afghanistan as one of the topics the 28 leaders from NATO member states will be focus on is the alliance's Aghan mission. "It is probably more likely that al-Qaeda would be able to launch a serious terrorist attack in Europe than in the United States because of proximity," Obama said.

    Relations between Europe and America soured after the previous Bush administration launched a war on Iraq in 2003. Obama's visit to Europe, which features cheerful crowds and thunderous applauses, is in sharp contrast to Bush's visits, which often were met with violent protests.