Nato leaders are meeting in Chicago in a summit dominated by the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

They want to forge a common stance as they prepare to hand over security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

Most recently, President Obama backed negotiating on a visit earlier this month to Afghanistan. However, he also outlined a new strategic pact with the US-backed government in Kabul that would let some American soldiers stay in Afghanistan past 2014 until 2024.

It goes on to remind NATO that, despite the 2024 extension, there are domestic pressures to wrap up the war soon. The statement cites a recent CBS News/New York Times poll in which 69 percent of respondents said the US shouldn't be involved in Afghanistan. Indeed, Monitor polling on the new US-Afghanistan strategic pact found nearly two-thirds of Americans reject the broad outlines of the deal.

Some members have pledged aid to help Afghan forces tackle the Taliban insurgency on their own.

Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency program to arm, train, and finance the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979 to 1989. The program leaned heavily towards supporting militant Islamic groups that were favored by neighboring Pakistan, rather than other, less ideological Afghan resistance groups that had also been fighting the Marxist-oriented Democratic Republic of Afghanistan regime since before the Soviet intervention. Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken; funding began with $20–30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987. Funding continued after 1989 as the Mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah's PDPA during the Civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992).

The Taliban are one of the mujahideen ("holy warriors" or "freedom fighters") groups that formed during the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89).

The authors review the close ties of the Bush family and international oil and energy, with special attention to the role that the current Bush Administration plays in American expansion of oil interests across central Asia. Condoleezza Rice, George H. W. Bush, Colin Powell, and the Bush II Cabinet is scrutinized for their role in pushing the Afghan War and their involvement in the financial dealings of Texas senators Gramm and Hutchinson.

CIA AND ISI NURTURED MUJAHIDEEN AND TALIBAN

President Barack Obama warned of "hard days ahead", and Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his country was fully aware of the responsibilities.

US involvement in Afghanistan has come into new question with the claim that President Hamid Karzai's brother has for years been on the payroll of the CIA – even though he is suspected of being a major figure in the illicit opium trade that Washington and its allies are pledged to do everything to stamp out.

The allegations against Ahmed Wali Karzai, set out yesterday in The New York Times and attributed to current and former US officials, paint a picture of a shadowy potentate and powerbroker with a finger in every pie, whose fief is the south of the country, heartland of the Taliban insurgency.

They could not have emerged at a more awkward time for the Obama administration, as it approaches a critical decision on American troop strength in the country. That decision in turn will be heavily influenced by the outcome of the run-off between Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the former foreign minister, scheduled for 7 November.

After the uproar over the fraud-ridden original election that purported to return Hamid Karzai with an absolute majority of the vote, Washington is counting on the run-off to produce a government that commands trust across the country. That, many policymakers here argue, is an essential precondition if Barack Obama is to authorise the major troop increase sought by General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan. The signs are that Mr Obama is leaning towards a strategy that would focus on protecting major population centres. This would require more troops than the 68,000 currently in Afghanistan, but not as many as the 40,000 extra or more requested by General McChrystal. But the calculations will inevitably now be even more delicate, amid the controversy over Ahmed Wali Karzai.

A part of me can't help but wonder what else that nation may have that's coveted. It's my belief that it may have to do with ancient artifacts. I don't think it's merely coincidental that they're going through some of the oldest human settled areas on the planet, the cradle of civilization.