U.S. President Barack Obama met NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and the two men discussed how next year's alliance summit in Chicago would shape a planned withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Obama and Rasmussen spoke in the Oval Office in a meeting opened briefly to still photographers but closed to reporters, and the White House said the two men also reviewed NATO's Libya operation, which was formally ended a week ago.

Rasmussen was also meeting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and members of the Senate, his press office said in a statement, AFP reported.