NATO to examine Middle East options after Trump request

NATO will consider an increased role in the Middle East, particularly in training missions, the head of the alliance said Thursday, after US President Donald Trump demanded it do more.

Responding to a call from the US leader for the transatlantic alliance to "become much more involved" in the troubled region, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this did not have to mean large deployments of combat troops.

He pointed to training missions run by the alliance in Afghanistan and Iraq -- where some 500 NATO forces are deployed to train local troops.

"I strongly believe that the best way we can fight international terrorism is not always by deploying NATO troops in big combat operations," Stoltenberg told reporters.

"The best way is to enable local forces to fight terrorism themselves, and that is exactly what we do in Afghanistan, what we do in Iraq, and of course we can look into if we can do more of that kind of activity."