BUCHAREST, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush indicated Tuesday that NATO's 'top priority' must be to defeat terrorism and warned the alliance not to back off its commitments in Afghanistan.

'If we were to let up the pressure, the extremists would re-establish safe havens across the country, and use them to terrorize the Afghan people and threaten our own,' Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery at a NATO summit on Wednesday.