Leaders of 26 member states in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO are in Romania during the three-day summit discussing NATO enlargement and operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says that his war-torn country still needs serious help from the international community.

"In order for us to achieve that we need the continuous presence and support and backing and scaling it up of the international community in Afghanistan. That would require a military presence in order for today to fight against terrorism and in order for that security presence to boost the Afghan security institutions."

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says that the organisation's mission in Afghanistan is shifting away from an emphasis on military efforts towards civilian rebuilding.

Earlier, a few countries, including France have announced to provide additional troops to the nearly 50,000-strong NATO force in Afghanistan.