NATO 60th anniversary summit opening today

PanARMENIAN.Net - A stalemated Afghan war and the appearance of a new, untested American president will dominate a crowded agenda for the nations of NATO gathering this weekend at the alliance's 60th anniversary summit.



Afghanistan is likely to get most of the attention at the summit, coming a week after President Barack Obama announced a revised war strategy that counts on deeper military and civilian contributions from the allies.



The summit will be Obama's first chance to appeal directly to alliance heads of government for more help in the deadlocked U.S. campaign to defeat the Taliban. The Afghan campaign is the only ground war that NATO has fought since it was founded in April 1949.



Also on the agenda: Pressing for a fresh start with nonmember Russia in the wake of this week's bilateral agreement with the U.S. to jump-start nuclear reduction talks; welcoming France back into NATO's military wing after a 43-year absence; and advancing prospects for pushing NATO's borders farther eastward.



The allies are unlikely to offer significant additional combat forces for Afghanistan at the summit. But they are expected to embrace Obama's focus on nonmilitary aspects of stabilizing Afghanistan and to underscore their shared view that Afghanistan cannot be allowed to regress back into an al-Qaida haven.



Obama's pitch on Afghanistan may be helped by his decision to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq, a war that hardened the reluctance of many European nations to heed appeals from the Bush administration for more troops.



The 60th anniversary summit, being held at Strasbourg, France, and Kehl, Germany, on opposite sides of the Rhine river, is meant to be more than a celebration of six decades of trans-Atlantic security and political ties. The leaders will also grapple with hard questions about managing relations with Russia, which views NATO as an anachronism, and determining what role NATO should be playing on the world stage, AP reported.