BUCHAREST, Romania —  The United Nations should take a bigger role in Afghanistan and work harder with NATO to boost efforts to stabilize the country, new U.N. envoy Kai Eide said Thursday.

"There is a desire for a stronger U.N. and for more U.N., and we will certainly try to live up to that," Eide told The Associated Press in one of his first media interviews since taking office three days ago.

"I would certainly like to have more U.N. people on the ground than we have today," he said on the sidelines of a NATO summit.

The NATO leaders adopted a "strategic vision" setting out their objectives in Afghanistan. They pledged to support one another in filling gaps in the 47,000-strong NATO military force there.

"We will provide our military commanders with the tools they need for success," they said.

At the summit, France pledged to send 700 extra troops after months of lobbying by the United States to persuade European allies to send more forces to the front lines of the fight against the Taliban. Romania also said it would add 120 troops.

The Taliban has slowly gained strength and stepped up its attacks in recent years, forcing both the government and NATO to toughen its resolve. Last year was Afghanistan's most violent since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. More than 8,000 people were killed, including some 1,500 civilians, according to the U.N. Most of those deaths were of militants killed in U.S. and NATO strikes.

The NATO strategy paper committed allies to sending more training teams with the aim of expanding the Afghan army of 63,000 to an effective fighting force of 80,000 by 2010.

NATO sees the development of local forces as key to an eventual downsizing of its International Security Assistance Force.

Eide was appointed to help coordinate international civilian development efforts by working with the Afghan government and NATO's military mission.

He acknowledged the widespread criticism of lack of cooperation in the seven years since international aid efforts were launched.

"I will also try to be a person who can bring together the various components of what the international community does and avoid the kind of fragmentation that perhaps we've seen too much of so far," he said.

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