May 18, 2012

Leaders of the 28 member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other officials from around the world are gathering in Chicago for three days of talks. NATO is a military alliance that seeks to protect the freedom and security of its member countries through political and military efforts.

The primary topic of discussion at the Chicago summit will likely be the alliance’s long-term role in Afghanistan. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, NATO announced that it considered the attacks against the United States as attacks against all NATO members. A number of NATO member nations subsequently provided assistance in a U.S.-led military campaign against terrorist targets in Afghanistan. In 2006, NATO assumed command from the United States of the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. U.S. President Barack Obama has stated that he intends to withdraw most NATO-led American forces from Afghanistan by 2014.

The flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 

At the end of the Chicago summit, an official communique–or statement endorsed by each of the member states–will define what alliance members agreed to during the meetings. International affairs experts suggest that the communique will outline in broad term the role the United States and Western power will play in Afghanistan over the next two years and beyond. Afghan forces are expected to assume the lead in all combat missions in 2013, with U.S. and NATO forces serving as backup only. It remains unclear how the United States and its European allies will fund the Afghan initiative over the next decade. Experts predict that the current European Union economic crisis will limit Europe’s ability–and willingness–to annually contribute billions of euros to sustain both the Afghan military and NATO backup forces.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan War
• Al-Qa`ida
• Taliban
• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2002 (a Back in Time article)
• Crisis in the Eurozone (a special report)

May 2, 2012

President Barack Obama, addressing the American public from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on May 1, pledged to “finish the job” and end the Afghan War. He noted, however, that the United States would not “cut and run” from Afghanistan and would meet long-term Afghan financial and security needs. He stated that at the forthcoming NATO summit in Chicago the alliance would “set a goal for Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations across the country next year. . . . I will not keep Americans in harm’s way a single day longer than is absolutely required for our national security. But we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan, and end this war responsibly.”

Earlier in the day, President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed an agreement broadly outlining the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends, currently scheduled for 2014. The United States went to war in Afghanistan nearly 11 years ago, following the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The aim was to root out al-Qa`ida militants based in Afghanistan and track down the terrorist organization’s leaders who had planned the attacks.

President Barack Obama of the United States (The White House)

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan (AP/Wide World)

There are currently more than 130,000 troops from 50 countries serving in Afghanistan under NATO command: 90,000 from the United States; 9,500 from the United Kingdom; 4,800 from Germany; and 3,600 from France. At least 2,700 troops from the United States and its partners have died in the war, the majority of them Americans.

Additional World Book articles:

• Osama bin Laden
• Taliban
• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2002 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2008 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2011 (a Back in Time article)