NATO Leaders Expected to Endorse Afghan Withdrawal Plan

The decade-long war in Afghanistan tops Saturday’s agenda as leaders of the 28-nation NATO alliance meet for the second day of their two-day summit in Lisbon, Portugal’s capital.

The leaders are expected to endorse a plan that calls for NATO troops to begin turning over security of the country to Afghan government forces next year, the start of a transition process designed to be completed by the end of 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is attending Saturday’s session.

On Friday, the NATO leaders reached agreement on establishing a new, expanded missile defense system, which U.S. President Barack Obama says will make Europe and the world more secure.

The president said the capability of the system is strong enough to cover all NATO European populations and the United States.

NATO’s secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the system will cost $273 million over the next 10 years.

Russia is being invited to participate in the system. And as a sign of the warming ties between NATO and Russia, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will be participating in Saturday’s meeting, where he will receive plans for the missile defense system. He will also meet one-on-one with President Obama.

Mr. Obama is using the summit to try get the Senate to ratify a new nuclear arms pact with Russia. NATO leaders have voiced support for the latest START treaty, which Mr. Obama has called “a national security imperative.”

In remarks Thursday before leaving for Lisbon, the president said the treaty reduces the number of nuclear weapons and launchers deployed by both the United States and Russia while fully maintaining America’s nuclear deterrent.

But a group of Republican senators has called for the vote on the pact to be delayed until after a new Congress is seated in January.

Some information in this story was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.