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KABUL, Afghanistan – The NATO summit's plan to "responsibly wind down" the Afghan waris not entirely in the hands of President Barack Obama and hisfellow world leaders. The carefully orchestrated exit strategy could come unhinged if theresilient Taliban stage a major comeback or Afghanistan's neighborsinterfere with the process to bolster their position in a weakcountry soon to be without thousands of international combattroops. In short, the Taliban, Pakistan and Iran still get a vote. The Taliban, who continue to carry out attacks across the countryand have shown little interest in negotiating peace with the Afghangovernment, described the NATO summit as a "show" with "no result." "Nobody can trust their statements and lies," Taliban spokesmanZabiullah Mujahid said in an e-mail to the media on Tuesday, a dayafter the two-day summit closed in Chicago. "They are claiming thateverything is fine in Afghanistan, which is far from the reality." At the summit, the U.S.-led NATO coalition finalized its plan forAfghan forces to take the lead in providing security in the middleof next year. Foreign troops will move into backup support andtraining roles, then completely end their combat mission at theclose of 2014. The goal is to pull back gradually to avoid a repeatof the civil war that followed the Soviet exit two decades ago— chaos that paved the way for the rise of al-Qaida and theTaliban. Ivo Daalder, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, saidTuesday on a conference call with reporters that the U.S. has beenpaying close attention to the role of Iran and particularlyPakistan in the transition strategy for Afghanistan. "We are in a very active and in-depth set of dialogues withPakistan to find ways in which we can cooperate to deal with theproblems that exist in order to make sure that our strategy inAfghanistan will succeed," Daalder said. "That's why we have andwill continue to find ways to cooperate on dealing with theterrorists." Pakistan has said repeatedly that it wants a stable Afghanistan,and the U.S. has given that country billions of dollars in aid overthe past decade to enlist its support in fighting Islamistmilitants. But U.S. officials also have accused Pakistan of being afickle ally and even supporting Taliban insurgents fighting theAmerican troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan has denied thisallegation. Last year, then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullensaid the Haqqani network, which is affiliated with the Taliban andal-Qaida, "acts as a veritable arm" of Pakistan's intelligenceagency. Mullen accused the network last year of staging an attackagainst the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul and beingbehind a truck bombing that wounded 77 American soldiers. Heclaimed Pakistan's spy agency helped the group. Still, both Afghanistan and the U.S. need Pakistan's help tonegotiate a peace agreement with the Taliban. "It is in Pakistan's interest to work with us and the worldcommunity to ensure that they themselves are not consumed byextremism that is in their midst," Obama said in Chicago. Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with Pakistani President Asif AliZardari on the sidelines of the summit. The main subject wasPakistan's role in the peace process. Karzai's office said in astatement that Zardari invited the head of the Afghan peace processto Pakistan to discuss the issue. Pakistan is not a NATO member but was invited to the summit becauseof its influence in Afghanistan and its role until last year as themajor supply route to landlocked NATO forces there. Pakistan closedthose routes after a U.S. attack on the Pakistani side of theborder killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November. The routes remainclosed because of a dispute over how much the U.S. will payPakistan to allow each truck to drive across its territory. Iran also has the ability to complicate NATO's plans. Iran does notlike the U.S. military footprint on its eastern border and will beclosely watching negotiations on a U.S.-Afghan security agreementthat will define the size and parameters of an American militarypresence in Afghanistan in the years to come. Although the Iranians are cozier with Afghanistan's ethnic Hazarathan with the majority Pashtuns who fill the ranks of the Taliban,NATO has accused Iran of providing the Taliban with weapons usedagainst coalition forces. Last year, NATO forces seized 48 Iranian-made rockets thatofficials said were intended to aid the Taliban. NATO officialssaid the shipment was evidence of a serious escalation in Iran'sstate support of the Taliban — an allegation Tehran denied.Western officials accuse Iran of conducting a proxy war against theU.S., which is in a standoff with Tehran over its nuclear program. For now, Afghans are taking a wait-and-see approach to the summit'supbeat assessment of their future. "We have witnessed a lot of international conferences onAfghanistan — conference after conference after conference,"said Mohammad Qassim Zazai, a businessman from Paktia province whois living in Kabul. "The people say 'Let's see what's going tohappen on the ground.'" Abdul Khaliq Bala Karzai, a parliament member, said he was pleasedthat world leaders expressed their commitment to Afghanistan evenas they are pulling out their troops. "I was watching on TV and they said they are going to protectAfghanistan and the Afghan people. Security is like water —very vital," said the lawmaker from Kandahar province, thebirthplace of the insurgency. The world leaders now need to pressure Iran and Pakistan tocooperate, not interfere, in Afghanistan, he said. "For the time being, the Taliban are not able to fight on theground against the Afghan and foreign troops. They are able only tolaunch guerrilla attacks, plant mines and carry out suicideattacks," he said. "When the foreign troops leave, the Taliban willget stronger, especially if these two countries support them— give them weapons and sanctuary, which is going on now." Mawlana Farid, a political analyst in Kabul, said he also washeartened to hear the international community's strong supportgoing forward. "The world leaders in Chicago announced their unity in protectingAfghanistan, but we still have concerns about our neighbors —Pakistan and Iran," he said. Even in front of 60 world leaders, Pakistan was not willing to openup its borders to allow NATO convoys to move through its territory,he lamented. "These convoys are the ones being used to help fight the terrorism.Pakistan is not ready to cooperate," Farid said. "Pakistan needs togive their word to the international community that they will notsupport insurgents or terrorism. If not, the situation could getworse." ___ Associated Press Writer Amir Shah contributed to this report. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Flap Barrier , Full Height Turnstile Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Automatic Traffic Barrier.
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