The United States and its NATO allies are
readying plans to pull away from the front lines in Afghanistan next
year as President Barack Obama and fellow leaders try to show that the
unpopular war is ending.
Top military and diplomatic officials from the U.S. and NATO allies met
Wednesday to finalize the combat handover program and a strategy for
world support to the weak Afghan government and fledgling military after
2014.
At the same time, the nations that have prosecuted a 10-year war against
a Taliban-led insurgency are reassuring nervous Afghans they will not
be left to fend for themselves.
The competing messages aimed at different audiences are both challenged
by current events in Afghanistan, where insurgents staged an impressive,
coordinated attack last weekend that struck at the heart of the
U.S.-backed government and international enclave in Kabul while Taliban
leaders boycott peace talks the U.S. sees as the key to a safe exit.
