Nato

The NATO meeting in Chicago is a chance for alliance leaders to proclaim solidarity and promise success. But the two-day gathering that begins Sunday probably won't resolve the underlying anxiety about sharing the burdens of defense, a concern heightened by Europe's economic crisis and America's growing weariness at carrying the heaviest load. Drastic budget cuts in some European countries are exasperating tensions over a yawning gap in military capabilities between the United States and other NATO members.

CHICAGO - The sight of Chicago police raising billy clubs against demonstrators was the kind of image that has dogged the city's police force longer than most of those who clashed with protesters have been alive. But after Sunday's clash during the NATO summit played out on television, virtually no one was talking about a "police riot," as they did in 1968 when baton-wielding officers waded into crowds of demonstrators during the Democratic National Convention. Nor was there the kind of criticism that was leveled at the Seattle police after a violence-plagued 1999 international summit.

Thousands of anti-NATO demonstrators are expected to converge at a downtown plaza Friday for a rally that promises to be a prelude to a much larger march Sunday, when world leaders begin two days of talks. Meanwhile, many office buildings will be shuttered after workers were told to stay home amid warnings about heightened security, snarled transportation and the possibility of unruly protests. National Nurses United officials have said they expect about 2,000 nurses to attend Friday's rally, where they will call for a "Robin Hood" tax on financial institutions' transactions to...

CHICAGO — NATO leaders formally agreed Monday on a framework for winding down their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and made commitments on the length and ambition of their role there long afterward. Under the agreement, NATO allies will turn over the main responsibility for providing security to Afghan forces next year, beginning the end of foreign involvement in the decade-long war. "In the course of 2013, we expect Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations across the country," NATO's secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said at the...

The NATO summit's plan to "responsibly wind down" the Afghan war is not entirely in the hands of President Barack Obama and his fellow world leaders. The carefully orchestrated exit strategy could come unhinged if the resilient Taliban stage a major comeback or Afghanistan's neighbors interfere with the process to bolster their position in a weak country soon to be without thousands of international combat troops. In short, the Taliban, Pakistan and Iran still get a vote.

Poland's president says he will press NATO leaders at an upcoming summit to stick to plans to end its military mission in Afghanistan in 2014, and for member states to offer financial support to the nation after troops have left. Bronislaw Komorowski said Friday he will press for NATO to confirm U.S. President Barack Obama's plans for the withdrawal at the summit in Chicago from May 20-21. Poland has some 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, and has been reducing its contingent. Komorowski also said those giving any financial aid will face "tough decisions"...

President Barack Obama will find his diplomatic clout tested at twin summits on his own turf beginning Friday. The big global problems are the economic mess in Europe and finding scarce money to boost a postwar Afghanistan — and in both cases the solutions lie mostly overseas. Still, given a home field advantage in an election year, Obama will try to use it. By offering solidarity with Europe and reminders that he is steering the Afghan war to a close, Obama will be promoting his re-election interests as well as national ones, underscoring contrasts with Mitt...

NATO will invite Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to the alliance's summit in Chicago, after the country's foreign minister proposed reopening its Afghan border to NATO military supplies, officials said Tuesday. Spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Pakistan was being invited to the May 20-21 summit along with a number of other non-NATO nations. These include countries that contribute to the NATO-led force, nations from the region, as well as Japan and several international organizations.

BRUSSELS -- NATO countries agreed yesterday to train Iraqi security forces after sidestepping a dispute between the United States and France over command of the alliance operation. Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said a 40-member advance team would leave for Iraq as soon as possible to begin the training and would report back in September about proposed relations with the US-led multinational force. "It's a distinct NATO mission," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Bombs killed a dozen people, including a British soldier and five children, in southern Afghanistan, authorities said yesterday, as US and British officials consider sending more troops to combat the growing Taliban insurgency. The five children were among 11 people who died yesterday when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in the Spin Boldak district of southern Kandahar Province near the Pakistan border, according to police General Saifullah Hakim. The victims, all members of an extended family, were traveling to a local Muslim...

The NATO summit's plan to "responsibly wind down" the Afghan war is not entirely in the hands of President Barack Obama and his fellow world leaders. The carefully orchestrated exit strategy could come unhinged if the resilient Taliban stage a major comeback or Afghanistan's neighbors interfere with the process to bolster their position in a weak country soon to be without thousands of international combat troops. In short, the Taliban, Pakistan and Iran still get a vote.

United States and NATO officials say the North Atlantic alliance has no intention of intervening militarily to quell violence in Syria. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said members of the alliance continue to seek ways to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime so it abides by a peace plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan. Last year, NATO conducted air strikes in Libya that helped topple strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

For activists, the NATO summit in Chicago served as one big stage from which to air a broad range of grievances — not just the war in Afghanistan or other actions of the 63-year-old military alliance. In their effort to maximize turnout, organizers were quick to welcome a wide variety of interests, including Occupy protesters, immigration groups, the nation's largest nurses union and others. But after a week of protests and rallies, the all-inclusive mindset raised questions about the focus of some of the nation's major protest movements.

France's new president said Sunday that Russia and other countries should not feel threatened by the planned NATO missile defense system. Speaking at the NATO summit in Chicago, President Francois Hollande laid out four conditions for French support for the antimissile defense — including cost, rules of engagement, industrial support for European contractors and compatibility with France's nuclear deterrent. The comments came at a news conference after Hollande affirmed his "pragmatic" decision to withdraw nearly all of the 3,400 French troops in...

CHICAGO - Police clashed with scores of protesters Sunday after more than 2,000 demonstrators marched peacefully to the edge of the NATO summit where President Obama is meeting with world leaders. Protesters shouting "Shut down NATO" threw bottles at officers wearing riot helmets and wielding batons. A city permit allowed protesters to march until 4:15 p.m. About 30 minutes after that, police began forcibly dispersing the crowd by driving the demonstrators from streets near the McCormick Place convention center, where the summit convened.

As President Barack Obama and fellow NATO leaders herald the coming end of the deeply unpopular Afghanistan war, they face the grim reality of two more years of fighting ahead and more of their troops sure to die in combat. The many partners in the fighting coalition were gathering Monday in Obama's hometown to reassert their commitment to ending the war in 2014 and solidify another milestone for next year, when Afghan forces take the lead in combat missions while NATO assumes a supporting role.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Fighting in southern Afghanistan killed 22 suspected Taliban militants, officials said yesterday, as NATO nations approved expanding the alliance's peacekeeping force into the region. Taliban fighters have stepped up attacks this year, triggering the worst violence since the hard-line regime was ousted in 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden. . The latest clashes, involving Afghan and US-led coalition troops and air power, occurred Tuesday and yesterday in two districts of Helmand province, also the hub of Afghanistan's huge trade in opium and heroin.

It seems NATO may also stand for Not All That Observant. A video posted on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization website ahead of its upcoming summit in Chicago got a few things wrong: identifying Chicago as Illinois' capital, identifying the city as the place President Barack Obama grew up and identifying the wrong man as the founder of the Chicago Tribune. But by Friday, NATO showed it could also stand for Not About To Offend after it scrubbed those mistakes from the video.

NATO says that its European missile shield is up and running with a basic capability to shoot down incoming missiles. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday the declaration of "interim capability" at the alliance's summit in Chicago is a first step toward a goal of establishing full coverage of Europe by 2018. A final stage is planned for 2022 that would also provide coverage of the United States from Europe. The Obama administration has touted the progress as sign of alliance solidarity.

The Taliban on Sunday urged all NATO nations in Afghanistan to follow France's lead and pull their forces from the war. The call came in a three-page statement released just as heads of state opened the NATO summit in Chicago to talk about the future of Afghanistan. The Taliban also on Sunday took responsibility for a suicide bombing in southern Afghanistan. The newly elected president of France has said he will withdraw all French combat troops from Afghanistan by year's end — a full two years before the timeline agreed to by nations in U.S.-led NATO coalition.