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As talks began President Obama spoke of a "transformationaldecade" in Afghanistan and the enormous sacrifices of theAmerican people on the road to peace, stability and development. The summit comes as several NATO leaders are under domesticpressure to withdraw troops from Afghanistan before 2014. The new French President, Francois Hollande, has promised to pullout the country's forces by the end of this year. However, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said such moves were part of the plan. "We are now in a process of gradually handing over leadresponsibility for security to the Afghans and that process will becompleted by the end of 2014 and during that process you will seewithdrawal of troops, a shift from combat to support," he said. "It's not a contradiction of our strategy, it's apart of our strategy," Anders Fogh Rasmussen added. Some nations – including the US, Australia, Britain, andGermany – have made pledged to an international fund set tohelp Afghan forces after the NATO pullout. The US is expected to pay half of an estimated $4 billion neededevery year. More than 10 years after the US toppled the Taliban regime,violence is continuing unabated in Afghanistan. According to UNfigures, the number of deaths reached a record 3,031 in 2011– the great majority caused by militants. Earlier this month the Taliban announced the start of their annualspring offensive. On Saturday a suicide bomber killed at least 10people, a number of them children, at a checkpoint in the easternprovince of Khost. The Obama administration is hoping that President Asif Ali Zardariof Pakistan will agree to reopen key NATO supply routes intoAfghanistan, which were closed in November after US air strikeskilled Pakistani troops. Pakistan's co-operation is regarded as key to the success ofthe international mission in Afghanistan, as 130,000 US-led troopsfight a Taliban insurgency. Also on the agenda at the NATO summit are plans for a US-led missile defense system for Europe, aimed atcountering a possible threat from Iran. The leaders are expected to announce the first phase of the scheme,with the deployment of US warships armed with interceptors in theMediterranean and a radar system based in Turkey. Russia has voiced strong opposition to the plan, saying itundermines the value of its nuclear deterrent. The summit is taking place amid heavy security in Chicago. Leaders from the Occupy movement have said they will join forceswith anti-war demonstrators which have held protests ahead of theNATO meeting. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Electronic Health Cigarette Manufacturer , China E Cigarettes Cartridges for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Electronic Health Cigarette.
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