From Roberta Rampton, Reuters: NATO countries will hold a summit next year to discuss troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. . . .

There are 62,000 U.S. troops and 34,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan. . . .

Rasmussen said NATO is preparing a training mission for Afghanistan in 2015. "It will be a very different mission. A non-combat mission with a significantly lower number of troops," he said. . . .

Obama said Rasmussen would identify the host country for the 2014 summit, which will look at building up NATO’s ability to address cyber threats and "lock in" commitments by members.

"That requires burden-sharing on the part of all NATO members. It means that even during times of austerity, that we work smarter together to ensure that we can meet and are prepared for any threats that may arise," Obama said.

From David Jackson, USA Today:  "What we agreed to is that in order for us to facilitate this entire process, it would be appropriate for us to have another NATO summit next year," Obama said after an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Most of the troops supplied by the United States and its allies are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The NATO summit will also included a discussion about post-2014 assistance to Afghanistan.

Rasmussen said his organization will continue to "train, advise and assist" Afghanistan on its democratic transition. While the goal is an Afghanistan "that can stand on its own feet," Rasmussen added that "the Afghans will not stand alone."  (photo: NATO)

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