BERLIN, July 24 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in a major speech in Germany urged Europe to stand closer by America's side to win the war in Afghanistan and help solve security issues around the world.

Were the Rolling Stones giving a free concert in downtown Berlin? That was the feeling one had when approaching Berlin's Victory Column, in front of which crowded some 100,000 Germans, many of them teenage girls, who had rushed there hours in advance to see -- yes, believe it or not -- a politician from a foreign country.

The city had been awash in Obamania for days, and when the senator from Illinois finally took the stage, beaming, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, and, of course, the "Yes, we can" shouts rang out.

Criticized at home for what may be a lack of expertise in European security issues and military matters, Obama played the tune that Europeans wanted to hear most desperately -- a United States that banks on cooperation and takes the old continent seriously.

Europe and the United States should join forces to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it," just as both powers defeated communism, Obama said. Sources inside the United States are not taking Europe seriously, he said, and that was a big mistake. "America has no better partner than Europe. ... Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe."