Afghanistan under the scanner
21 May 2012 7:15 AM GMT
Nearly 60 world leaders, including Presidents of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan have gathered in Chicago for the key NATO Summit beginning on Sunday, aimed at charting out a road map of international support to Kabul and prepare a blueprint for a joint exit strategy.
The two-day summit of the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, first on US soil in more than a decade, is significant as President Barack Obama has announced that all combat operations led by US forces will cease in the summer of 2013 and the NATO forces would move to a 'support role'.
'We will lay out how we will continue to support Afghanistan, and its people, beyond that date. We expect to have a new mission, to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces so they remain strong in the years to come,' NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on the eve of the summit.
'We will also play a full part in sustaining the Afghan forces. But there is an important role for other members of the international community too. Particularly in the areas of reconstruction and development, and also in helping the Afghan authorities to build the institutions that are necessary to run a country effectively and fairly,' Rasmussen said.
Noting that good progress is being made towards that goal, he said with the help of NATO and US forces Afghan forces are already in the lead for providing security for half the country's population.
The summit of the 63-year-old NATO, founded after the World War II to counter Communist bloc, in Obama's hometown is likely to be dominated by Afghanistan.
Among the world leaders at the summit will be Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, who was extended a last-minute invitation to attend.
The invite was extended to Zardari after Pakistan said that it was closer to a deal with the US on reopening NATO supply routes into Afghanistan which were closed in November after cross border air raid that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers.
Despite the Taliban's regular attacks on Afghan security and political installations, the NATO-led forces are seeking to hand control of security to Afghan forces while withdrawing some 130,000 soldiers.
TALIBAN SENDS A MESSAGE
Afghanistan's Taliban have sent a message to NATO leaders at a major summit in Chicago, calling the 'war on terror' an excuse for colonisation and urging them to follow the French lead and get out. A statement on the Taliban website, Voice of Jihad, says no Afghans were involved in Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington that prompted a US-led invasion of Afghanistan. The statement fails to mention that the invasion in late 2001 followed a refusal by the hardline Islamists.
The two-day summit of the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, first on US soil in more than a decade, is significant as President Barack Obama has announced that all combat operations led by US forces will cease in the summer of 2013 and the NATO forces would move to a 'support role'.
'We will lay out how we will continue to support Afghanistan, and its people, beyond that date. We expect to have a new mission, to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces so they remain strong in the years to come,' NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on the eve of the summit.
'We will also play a full part in sustaining the Afghan forces. But there is an important role for other members of the international community too. Particularly in the areas of reconstruction and development, and also in helping the Afghan authorities to build the institutions that are necessary to run a country effectively and fairly,' Rasmussen said.
Noting that good progress is being made towards that goal, he said with the help of NATO and US forces Afghan forces are already in the lead for providing security for half the country's population.
The summit of the 63-year-old NATO, founded after the World War II to counter Communist bloc, in Obama's hometown is likely to be dominated by Afghanistan.
Among the world leaders at the summit will be Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, who was extended a last-minute invitation to attend.
The invite was extended to Zardari after Pakistan said that it was closer to a deal with the US on reopening NATO supply routes into Afghanistan which were closed in November after cross border air raid that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers.
Despite the Taliban's regular attacks on Afghan security and political installations, the NATO-led forces are seeking to hand control of security to Afghan forces while withdrawing some 130,000 soldiers.
TALIBAN SENDS A MESSAGE
Afghanistan's Taliban have sent a message to NATO leaders at a major summit in Chicago, calling the 'war on terror' an excuse for colonisation and urging them to follow the French lead and get out. A statement on the Taliban website, Voice of Jihad, says no Afghans were involved in Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington that prompted a US-led invasion of Afghanistan. The statement fails to mention that the invasion in late 2001 followed a refusal by the hardline Islamists.
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