US Secretary of State John Kerry says he will travel to Paris this week for talks on countering extremist violence, following sharp criticism of the Obama administration for not sending a senior official to Sunday's rally for unity in Paris that was attended by some 40 world leaders and more than a million people.

Kerry, who was scheduled to be in France on Thursday and Friday, called the criticism "quibbling", and said that Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Victoria Nuland was in Paris at the march, as was the US ambassador to France and many embassy staffers. Attorney General Eric Holder was also in Paris, but did not march.

The secretary of state said on Monday he "would have personally very much wanted to have been there but couldn't do so because I had commitments here (in India) and it is important to keep these kinds of commitments".