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HELENE COOPER and MATTHEW ROSENBERG Published: May 20, 2012 CHICAGO President Obama was struggling to balance the UnitedStates relationship with two crucial but difficult allies onSunday, after a deal to reopen supply lines through Pakistan toAfghanistan fell apart just as Mr. Obama began talks on ending theNATO alliance s combat role in the Afghan war. As a two-day NATO summit meeting opened in Chicago, Mr. Obamaremained at loggerheads with President Asif Ali Zardari ofPakistan, refusing even to meet with him without an agreement onthe supply routes, which officials in both countries acknowledgedwould not be coming soon. Mr. Zardari, who flew to Chicago with hopes of lifting his staturewith a meeting with Mr. Obama, was preparing to leave empty-handedas the two countries continued to feel the repercussions of a fatalAmerican airstrike last November, for which Mr. Obama has offeredcondolences but no apology. Mr. Zardari did, however, meet withSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss the supplyroutes. Pakistan closed the routes into Afghanistan after the strike,heightening tensions with Pakistani officials who say that theUnited States has repeatedly infringed on their sovereignty withdrone strikes and other activities. This whole breakdown in the relationship between the U.S. andPakistan has come down to a fixation of this apology issue, saidVali Nasr, a former State Department adviser on Pakistan. Thecombination of no apology and no meeting, Mr. Nasr said, willsend a powerfully humiliating message back to Pakistan. American officials hope the summit of the 28-member alliance willset in motion an orderly conclusion of the decade-long war inAfghanistan, a huge undertaking. NATO aims to give Afghan forcesthe lead in combat operations next year to pave the way for thedeparture of NATO troops by the end of 2014. The NATO summit willalso focus on financing Afghan forces for the next several years. In a sign of the tensions surrounding Afghanistan, hundreds ofprotesters took to the streets of Chicago on Sunday in oppositionto the war and to NATO. The police clashed with some demonstratorswho refused to disperse after a march down Michigan Avenue toMcCormick Place, where world leaders were meeting. Mr. Obama and his other tenuous ally in the region, President HamidKarzai of Afghanistan, huddled together Sunday morning to grapplewith stalled reconciliation talks with the Taliban. It was a measure of just how bad things have gotten between theUnited States and Pakistan that, by contrast, Mr. Obama srelationship with Mr. Karzai which has been rocky ever since Mr.Obama came into office vowing to end what he viewed as formerPresident George W. Bush s coddling of the mercurial Afghan leader looked calm and stable on Sunday. The two men, fresh off Mr. Obama s unannounced trip to Kabul thismonth to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Mr. Karzaithat set the terms for relations after the departure of Americantroops in 2014, presented a united front before reporters after aone-hour meeting on the outskirts of the NATO summit. It was asharp contrast with the past, when Mr. Karzai berated Americantroops, threatened to join the Taliban and chastised theAmerican-led NATO mission. There was none of that on Sunday. During their session, the two menjoked about limits in both of their countries that would preventthem from serving more than two terms; Mr. Obama trotted out hisfamiliar look at all the gray hair I have now line that helikes using to describe how tough his term has been. I want to express my appreciation for the hard work thatPresident Karzai has done, Mr. Obama said after the meeting,standing next to Mr. Karzai. He recognizes the enormoussacrifices American troops have made. Mr. Obama quickly added: We recognize the hardships that Afghanshave been through during these many many years of war. Mr. Karzai, for his part, said he would work to make sure thatAfghanistan is not a burden on the shoulders of our friends inthe international community. For all the twists and turns in this relationship, we now verymuch want to get to very much the same place, one Obamaadministration official said. He credited the strategic partnershipagreement, which he says has given Mr. Karzai a level ofreassurance that the United States and NATO will not abandonAfghanistan once combat troops leave the country. The discussiontoday was very much about what do we have to do over the next twoyears to close out our piece of the war. On the Pakistani front, however, things seem to deteriorate. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Rechargeable Led Headlamp Manufacturer , Led Rechargeable Flashlights for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Industrial Flood Lighting.
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