The United States hosted the NATO Summit May 20-21, in Chicago, Illinois. President Barack Obama welcomed leaders from NATO member and partner nations to his hometown for the Summit of the world's most successful Alliance. At the NATO Summit, leaders discussed the next major phase of transition in Afghanistan as well as steps to ensure NATO has the capabilities necessary to meet the challenges of the 21st… more »
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![President Barack Obama along with other world leaders wave during a photo opportunity at the G-8 Summit on May 19, 2012 at Camp David, Maryland. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0522_g8_obam1_m.jpg)
On May 18-19, 2012, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the EU joined President Barack Obama at Camp David for the annual G8 Summit. The leaders met to address major global economic, political, and security challenges, including energy and climate change, food security and nutrition, Afghanistan's economic transition and transitions taking place across the Middle East and North Africa.
In his remarks at the closing of the Summit, President Obama said, "For the past three years, our nations have worked together and with others first to rescue a global economy from freefall, then to wrestle it back to a path of recovery and growth. Our progress has been tested… more »
Posted under: Behind the Scenes
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![Flags of NATO members states seen in front of NATO headquarters, Brussels, June 11, 2009. [AP File]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2011_0307_nato_flags_m.jpg)
In Afghanistan, the Administration has implemented three mutually reinforcing surges -- military, civilian and diplomatic -- to fulfill the national security imperative of ensuring that Afghanistan never again serves as a safe haven for al-Qaida.
We are committed to learning the lessons of history and avoiding the kind of precipitous pullout that can fuel instability. We are now in the execution phase of our strategy. We expect some continuing challenges along the way, but we are achieving the goals we set in each of these three surges -- fighting, talking and building all at once.
Just two weeks ago, a Strategic Partnership Agreement was signed that provides a comprehensive framework… more »
Posted under: South and Central Asia
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More nations will participate in NATO's Chicago Summit than ever before. This Sunday and Monday, almost 60 nations, including over 30 NATO partners, will come together in Chicago. With the help of many of these partners, the Alliance will define an important milestone in its operation in Afghanistan, and consider how to address future security challenges together.
You probably know that NATO has 28 Allies who are bound to collective defense. What you might not know is that over 40 other countries work with NATO on a broad array of issues from counter-piracy, to energy security, counter-terrorism, promoting the role of women in peace and security, and more. These countries are not members of the Alliance, but have decided to work with NATO to promote international peace and security,… more »
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![NATO foreign ministers attend a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Dec. 3, 2009. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2010_0419_nato_meeting_m.jpg)
President Obama will host leaders from around the world in Chicago this weekend for an important diplomatic summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This Chicago Summit will be the first NATO summit on American soil in 13 years, and the first ever outside of Washington.
In addition to the opportunity to showcase one of our nation's great cities, our hosting of the summit in Chicago is a tangible symbol of the importance of NATO to the United States. It is also an opportunity to underscore to the American people the continued value of this alliance to security challenges we face today.
Indeed, NATO is vital to U.S. security. More than ever, the Alliance… more »
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![President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai exchange documents after signing the strategic partnership agreement in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 2, 2012. [White House photo by Pete Souza]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0504_potus_karzai_m.jpg)
This week's Photo of the Week comes to us from the White House Official Photographer, Pete Souza. On May 2, President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where shortly after midnight Kabul time, President Obama and his counterpart, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, signed a 10-year strategic partnership agreement.
In an internationally televised addressed from Bagram Air Base, President Obama said, “Today, I signed a historic agreement between the United States and Afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship between our countries -- a future in which Afghans are responsible for the security of their nation, and we build an equal partnership between two sovereign states; a future in which war ends and a new chapter begins.”
According to a White House fact sheet, the agreement is not only a signal of the United States' long-term… more »
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![Military personnel watch on a screen as President Barack Obama makes a live address at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, May 2, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0501_potus_afghanistan_m.jpg)
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Tonight, President Barack Obama delivered remarks at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
President Obama said, "Today, I signed a historic agreement between the United States and Afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship between our countries -- a future in which Afghans are responsible for the security of their nation, and we build an equal partnership between two sovereign states; a future… more »
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![Afghan civil society leaders -- Ms. Razia Arooje, who is a national program officer for the Kabul office of an international development organization; Ms. Freshta Karimi, who is the director of Da Qanoon Ghushtonky, a legal organization supporting women and children; Mr. Mohammad Sadiq Mohibi, who is an advisor to the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and the Disabled; and Dr. Mirwais Rahimzai, the country director for the Center for Human Services/University Research -- participate in a panel discussion in Berlin, Germany, April 2012. [State Department photo by John G. Self/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0501_civil_society_afghanistan_m.jpg)
The Afghan Ambassador to Germany, Professor Dr. A. Rahman Ashraf, smiles warmly at the group of four young Afghan civil society leaders. They smile back, timidly. "This is the best day in my life in the past eighteen 18 months since I became Ambassador to Germany!" he proclaims. The group now smiles with a more complex mixture of embarrassment at being in the spotlight and pride, obviously moved by his words. He continues: "When I was teaching at the university in Kabul, I was hoping that one day my students would go out and present Afghanistan to the world. And now you are doing just that."
The Ambassador's reaction was perhaps more personal than the reactions in some of the other meetings to which I accompanied the group, but it is hardly atypical. In their day in Berlin -- part of a week-long tour through Germany, Hungary, and Spain, from April 15-22 -- these four… more »
Posted under: South and Central Asia
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![Future law professor Parwiz Esmati from Albironi University, Afghanistan, poses in his judicial robes as he prepares to serve as a judge for the 2012 Jessup International Moot Court competition in Washington, D.C., March 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0501_moot_court_afghanistan_m.jpg)
If you want to become a lawyer in Afghanistan, you enroll in a university and major in Law & Politics or Shari'a, either of which grants you an undergraduate degree and allows you to practice law. Therefore, a solid and comprehensive legal education can set the groundwork for a correspondingly flourishing and effective Afghan justice system. One month ago, I became the Program Manager for an innovative legal education grant that has been quietly making gains for Afghanistan's future lawyers with very little fanfare since 2004 by educating Afghan law professors and encouraging them to change the way they teach. This unassuming yet groundbreaking program, administered by the University of Washington in Seattle, and called the Afghanistan Legal Educators Support Program (LESPA), celebrated two recent events that speak volumes about the range of work the United States is doing… more »
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![Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton laughs as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda jokes while speaking during a dinner at the National Geographic Society in Washington, April 30, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0430_clinton_noda_japan_m.jpg)
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan in Washington, D.C. on April 30, 2012. During a joint press conference at the White House, President Obama said, "It is a great pleasure to welcome Prime Minister Noda of Japan, one of America's closest allies in the Asia Pacific region but also around the world. And, of course, one of the reasons that we enjoy such a strong alliance between our nations is because it's rooted in the deep friendship between our peoples."
President Obama continued, "...We recognize that the U.S.-Japan alliance will remain the foundation of the security and prosperity of our two nations but… more »
Posted under: East Asia and the Pacific
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May 23: The State Department, through its office of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa. more »
May 23: Today, Russia was invited to join the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) at a ceremony hosted by its parent body, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. ã more »