Afghans back Chicago deal, warn West to keep promises

KABUL (Reuters) - People in Afghanistan were surprisingly optimistic on Tuesday about NATO's plan to pull combat troops out of their war-ravaged nation by the end of 2014, but warned Western leaders to stick to aid and security promises. A Chicago summit meeting of the 28-member bloc, attended also by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other world leaders, endorsed an exit strategy on Monday that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year. ...

Afghans back Chicago deal, warn West to keep promises

KABUL (Reuters) - People in Afghanistan were surprisingly optimistic on Tuesday about NATO's plan to pull combat troops out of their war-ravaged nation by the end of 2014, but warned Western leaders to stick to aid and security promises. A Chicago summit meeting of the 28-member bloc, attended also by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other world leaders, endorsed an exit strategy on Monday that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year. ...

NATO sets "irreversible" but risky course to end Afghan war

CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO set an "irreversible" course out of Afghanistan on Monday but President Barack Obama admitted the Western alliance's plan to end the deeply unpopular war in 2014 was fraught with peril. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. ...

NATO sets course to end Afghan war but path is risky

CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO mapped an "irreversible" course out of Afghanistan on Monday but President Barack Obama admitted the Western alliance's plan to end the deeply unpopular war in 2014 was fraught with risk. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left major questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. ...

Protests dwindle in Chicago as NATO summit concludes

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Anti-war protests in Chicago dwindled on Monday to a few hundred people at the headquarters of U.S. defense contractor Boeing and President Barack Obama's re-election headquarters as the two-day summit of the NATO military alliance ended. Between 200 and 300 demonstrators, some throwing paper planes, gathered in a festive atmosphere at airplane maker Boeing. The turnout was a fraction of the thousands who attended a march on Sunday where dozens were arrested and a number of protesters and police injured during fierce clashes. ...