Bahrain has stressed the need for a global partnership to counter terrorism with resolve and efficacy.

"Terrorism knows no border as no country is spared from its dangers and threats. This requires security and defence strategies to avert factors that provide a fertile ground for terrorism to prosper," His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, said.

Addressing a session on Afghanistan at a two-day Nato summit at the Welsh resort of Celtic Manor, the Crown Prince said Bahrain realised long time ago the crucial importance of co-ordination to fight all forms of terrorism.

In line with His Majesty's directives, Bahrain continues to bolster effective co-operation with specialised international organisations, such as Nato which operates on a large geographic scale to safeguard peace and security, he said.

Bahrain joined the Istanbul Co-operation Initiative which provides an official co-operation platform with Nato given the important status and role of the organisation in promoting global security and peace, he said.

The Crown Prince said Bahrain is willing to provide opportunities and capabilities to further cement ties with Nato and member states in support of joint international efforts in security and defence.

Bahrain is ready to take such efforts to new heights to safeguard security and interests of the region which has ties with the world as a whole, he added..

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday pressed fellow Nato leaders to confront the "brutal and poisonous" Islamic State militant group that is wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria - and urged regional partners like Jordan and Turkey to join the effort as well.

As leaders of the Western alliance gathered for the summit, Obama and Cameron worked to begin forming a coalition of nations that could combat the extremists through military power, diplomatic pressure and economic penalties.

"Those who want to adopt an isolationist approach misunderstand the nature of security in the 21st century," they wrote in a joint editorial published as the meetings began.

"Developments in other parts of the world, particularly in Iraq and Syria, threaten our security at home."

While some Nato leaders talked tough about the threat posed by the Islamic State, the alliance made no specific pledges of action.

Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he believed the broader international community "has an obligation to stop the Islamic State from advancing further" and would seriously consider requests for assistance, particularly from the Iraqi government.

The US began launching air strikes against militant targets in Iraq last month, with Britain joining American forces in humanitarian airdrops to besieged minority populations. The militants' killing of two American journalists inside Syria has raised discussion of targeting the group there as well.

White House officials said they did not expect Nato to commit to a military mission against the group during the summit.

Still, they raised the prospect that the end of Nato's combat mission in Afghanistan could allow member states to focus their attention elsewhere.

"What you see the alliance doing at this summit is looking at more than one direction at a time," said US ambassador to Nato Douglas Lute.

Indeed, the threat posed by the Islamic State overshadowed some of the Nato summit's official agenda, which was intended to focus on celebrating the Afghan drawdown of troops and constructing a rapid response force on the alliance's eastern flank that could serve as a deterrent to Russian aggression.

Obama and European leaders met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a show of solidarity with his embattled nation.

Beyond direct military action, the White House said it was also seeking commitments from allies to send weapons, ammunition and other assistance to Western-backed Syrian rebels and to Iraqi forces.

Germany moved in that direction yesterday, with the government announcing that it had sent a first planeload of military equipment to the Kurds in Iraq's north, including helmets, protective vests, field glasses and mine-searching devices.

Ammunition

The German government also said it had decided to send assault rifles, ammunition, anti-tank weapons and armoured vehicles to the Kurdish forces, but it hadn't yet set a date for the arms deliveries.

Obama and Cameron also sought support from non-Nato nations that partner with the alliance. They held separate meetings with Jordan's King Abdullah yesterday, and both plan to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, who are with Obama in Wales, plan to travel to the Middle East next week to rally more support from regional partners. - TradeArabia News Service