NATO shifts to help an elusive Afghanistan peace

NATO allies declared the end of a long and unpopular Afghanistan war is in sight even as they struggled to hold their fighting force together as France's new president announced plans to pull troops out early.    

The fate of the war is both the center of this two-day NATO summit that opened Sunday in Chicago, and a topic no one is celebrating as a mission accomplished. The alliance already has one foot out the Afghanistan door, with the Europeans pinching pennies in a debt crisis and President Barack Obama with an ear attuned to the politics of an economy-driven presidential election year.     

Still, some cautioned against following France's example while others played down stresses in the fighting alliance.     

"There will be no rush for the exits," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. "Our goal, our strategy, our timetable remain unchanged."     

Obama, who was hosting the summit in his hometown and the city where his re-election operation hums, spoke of a post-2014 world when "the Afghan war as we understand it is over."  Until then, though, remaining U.S. and allied troops face the continued likelihood of fierce combat.     

Tension over newly elected French President Francois Hollande's pledge to end his country's combat mission two years early infused the meeting. German Chancellor Angela Merkel pointedly cited the credo of the allies in the Afghanistan war, "in together, out together," and her foreign minister cautioned against a "withdrawal competition" by coalition countries.    

The Taliban are urging nations fighting in Afghanistan to follow France's lead and pull their international forces from the war this year.    

"We call upon all the other NATO member countries to avoid working for the political interests of American officials and answer the call of your own people by immediately removing all your troops from Afghanistan," the group said in a statement before the meeting.     

Hollande said he was merely being pragmatic in keeping a campaign pledge to pull combat troops this year but this still would "let the alliance continue to work."     

While France's new posture obviously rattled the leaders, Allen betrayed no concern about the coalition's common purpose coming unglued. "The mantra of this particular mission has been in together, out together," he told reporters. "And I'm not seeing, frankly, many voices being raised that would oppose that."     

Obama said NATO envisions a decade of transformation after 2014, with the United States still contributing money and some residual forces but out of the war itself.     

"What this NATO summit reflects is that the world is behind the strategy that we've laid out," Obama said after lengthy talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "Now it's our task to implement it effectively."     

Karzai said his nation is looking forward to the end of war, "so that Afghanistan is no longer a burden on the shoulder of our friends in the international community, on the shoulders of the United States and our other allies."     

No other nations have announced plans to follow suit behind France and remove troops early. More such shifts appear likely, however, as each country eyes the clock and its own tight pocketbook. 

Although the 130,000-member fighting force  dominated by 98,000 U.S. troops could absorb combat withdrawals by other partners in the Afghan coalition, alliance leaders are struggling to maintain the status quo.     

A deal is expected during the summit that would see France bring combat forces out of the sometimes restive province where they are based, but leave training forces or other support in place. That is the model followed by the Netherlands, Canada and probably Australia, which intends to bring most of its 1,550 combat personnel home next year.    

AP