The alliance leaders, meeting in Mr. Obama’s hometown, solidified plans for an “irreversible transition” in which Afghan security forces take control next summer with NATO sliding into a support role and ultimately withdrawing by the end of 2014.
Mr. Obama said the transition was “the next milestone” in NATO’s plans for bringing the nearly 11-year long war to a close.
“This will be another step toward Afghans taking full lead for their security as agreed to by 2014 when the ISAF mission will end,” Mr. Obama said as he opened a meeting of NATO leaders and partner countries who have participated in the war.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Afghans were already leading security operations in half the country and were on pace to meet next year’s targets.
“Transition means the people of Afghanistan increasingly see their own army and police in their towns and villages providing their security,” Rasmussen said. “This is an important sign of progress towards our shared goal: an Afghanistan governed and secured by Afghans for Afghans.”
NATO leaders were joined by representatives of other nations that have a stake in the war, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Mr. Zardari’s presence has cast a shadow over the summit. The U.S. and Pakistan remain at odds over Pakistan’s closure of key routes used to send supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan closed the supply lines in November following a U.S. airstrike that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. While both sides have indicated the issue will be resolved, no deal is expected to be reached during the NATO meetings.
Mr. Obama thanked other nations in Central Asia and Russia for their role in providing “critical transit” for supplies, but pointedly made no mention of Pakistan.
As NATO leaders herald the Afghan war’s end, they face the grim reality of two more years of fighting ahead and more of their troops sure to die in combat.
Some NATO countries, most recently France, have also sought to end their combat commitments early. The Taliban and its allies have warned that they are waiting to fill the void in Afghanistan after NATO leaves.
Mr. Obama, eager to show election-year leadership on the world stage, has sought to straddle the line on the war during the two-day NATO summit.
He held a long meeting on Sunday with Mr. Karzai and said later, “the Afghan war as we understand it is over.”
Many alliance leaders, Mr. Obama chief among them, have a political incentive for trumpeting that drawdown plan, given the growing public frustration with the nearly 11-year-old war.
Sixty six per cent of Americans oppose the war, while only 27 per cent support the effort, according to an AP-GfK poll released earlier this month.
In France, voters elected President Francois Hollande in part because of a campaign pledge to pull his country’s 3,300 troops out of Afghanistan ahead of schedule.
At the NATO conference, leaders were also discussing how the international community would finance Afghan security forces after 2014.
NATO estimates it will cost about $4.1-billion a year to finance the forces. The Afghan government will pay about $500-million of that, and the rest will come from donor countries, many of which are struggling with deficits and the spectre of recession.
In a statement issued early Monday, NATO directed a review of the need for continued military support after ground forces depart. The alliance said it would “continue to provide strong and long-term political and practical support” to the government of Afghanistan and would “train, advise and assist” the Afghan military.
“This will not be a combat mission,” NATO said.
Original Article
Source: Globe
Author: Julie Pace
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