24 October 2013 (11:29 UTC-07 Tango)/19 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/02 Aban 1391/20 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

“….they are telling us ‘no panic yet’.”-unnamed NATO official to Rueters

As I’ve written in a previous Afghanistan update, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is being destroyed by continued deployment to Afghanistan.  Now it’s not just financially, it’s for legal reasons.

NATO leaders have just called for a “strategic planning assessment”, all because Afghan President Hamid Karzai is refusing to sign a new military pact with the United States: “….we can’t finalize our preparations until we have finalized negotiations on the legal framework.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary-General during NATO press conference

NATO member Germany kind-o-blamed the United States: “Our decision depends on these decisions. We have made an offer, but we need clarity on the rights and duties of our soldiers and we need clarity on the U.S. decision.”-Thomas de Maiziere, Defense Minister of Germany, interview with BBC

NATO officials told Reuters that despite the official 2014 pullout, they expect to have 12-thousand NATO troops remain in Afghanistan!