NATO chief: No rush for exits in Afghanistan

Jason Reed / Reuters

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks to the media at the start of the NATO summit on Sunday.

By NBC News and news services

CHICAGO -- The United States and NATO leaders insisted Sunday?that the Afghanistan fighting coalition will remain whole despite France's plans to yank combat troops out early.

"There will be no rush for the exits," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the NATO summit. "We will stay committed and see it through to a successful end. Our goal, our strategy, our timetable remain unchanged."

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NATO leaders gathered in Chicago on Sunday to chart a path out of Afghanistan as war-weary Western nations seek to fend off dissent in their alliance and ensure Afghanistan can hold a still-potent Taliban at bay when foreign troops withdraw.

President Barack Obama was hosting the two-day summit in his hometown, a day after leaders of major industrialized nations tackled Europe's debt crisis, backing keeping Greece in the euro zone and vowing to take steps necessary to revitalize the world economy.

Public opinion in Europe and the United States is solidly against the war, with a majority of Americans now saying it is unwinnable or not worth continuing.

Newly elected French President Francois Hollande has said he will withdraw all French combat troops from Afghanistan by year's end ? a full two years before the timeline agreed to by nations in the U.S.-led NATO coalition.

"President Hollande has stated that France would be prepared to support Afghanistan in a different way," Rasmussen said.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters?is included in?this report.

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