The annual NATO summit opened yesterday afternoon in Chicago, bringing leaders from around the world to President Obama’s former home to confront questions surrounding the future of a post-conflict Afghanistan. As the two-day summit continues today, Western leaders will try to further define their path out of Afghanistan. Hassina Sherjan is the founder and country director of Aid Afghanistan for Education. David Sanger is the chief Washington correspondent for our partner, The New York Times.

The Los Angeles Times has published graphic photos showing U.S. military personnel posing with the dead bodies of Afghan insurgents. The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan wasted little time condemning the actions in the pictures, saying in a statement that "the incident depicted in the LA Times' photographs represents a serious error in judgment by several soldiers who have acted out of ignorance and unfamiliarity with U.S. Army values." Joining us is Peter Galbraith, former UN Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan.

Over the weekend, Taliban bombers and attackers launched their spring offensive with a series of coordinated attacks on Afghan government offices in Kabul and across three eastern provinces. Dozens of fighters assaulted NATO bases, embassies, the Afghan parliament and other government buildings with suicide attacks, rockets and gunfire. In all, the attack lasted more than five hours. NATO forces called the assault “largely ineffective” — saying it caused only "light casualties" to Afghan units. Still, Peter Galbraith, former UN deputy special representative, for Afghanistan says the Taliban’s onslaught emphasizes just how vulnerable the capital has become — and casts new doubts on NATO’s transition plans.

The story of Specialist Dennis Weichel is deeply tragic but shows a side of U.S. troops in Afghanistan that we haven't heard about recently, with the Koran burnings, drone attacks killing civilians, and the case of Sergeant Robert Bales. Rod Nordland is the foreign correspondent for our partner the New York Times.

According to our partner the BBC, security officials seized 11 suicide bomb jackets and made several arrests inside a security zone around the Ministry of Defense in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul. Bilal Sawary, correspondent for the BBC in Kabul, joins us live.

Until just a few weeks ago, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was known simply as a former high school football captain, an American patriot who joined the Army after 9/11, a husband, a son, and a father of two. Now, he’s a prisoner at a detention facility in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan in an incident that’s been called one of the worst war crimes of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. As new facts about Bales' life emerge — including details about foot and head injuries and a mild traumatic brain injury he suffered — it appears that this could shape into a complicated legal case for the Army.

Comments by the lawyer for the U.S. soldier who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians on Sunday has shed new light on the psychological state of the soldier in question. The lawyer, John Henry Browne, says the soldier was reluctant about going on another tour of duty, and was having tensions with his wife about the deployments on the night of the shooting. In addition, a senior U.S. official tells our partner The New York Times that the soldier had been drinking alcohol, a violation of military rules in combat zones. "When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues — he just snapped," the unnamed senior official said.

Just days after a U.S. soldier allegedly went on a shooting rampage that killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan, this morning Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for a U.S. troop pullback. President Karzai called for NATO-led forces to move out of Afghan villages and rural areas and told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that Afghan troops should take the lead for nationwide security in 2013, a year earlier than is now scheduled.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will meet with troops in Afghanistan today, during a visit that come days after a U.S. soldier allegedly went on a shooting spree in Kandahar that killed 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children and three women. In the trip that has been planned for months, Panetta is not scheduled to go to the district in Kandahar where the killings occurred. The Defense Secretary has stated that Sunday's shootings will not change the administration’s exit strategy from Afghanistan.

Many details about the 38-year-old American solider who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians in a shooting spree are still unknown. However, the picture that is emerging is one of a career soldier under tremendous stress. Military sources say the gunman was married with two children. Although this was his first deployment in Afghanistan, he had over 10 years of service, including tours in Iraq. He also is reported to have previously suffered a traumatic brain injury and to have had problems at home after his last deployment. Despite those issues, the soldier — who is based at Fort Lewis in Washington state — was still deemed fit for combat duty.

Information continues to trickle out about the American Army Staff Sergeant who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians over the weekend. Who is he?  What were his motives? For some, the killings have prompted very different questions about the longest war in American history. Perhaps most importantly, how much longer should America be engaged in the region at all?

Sunday morning's shooting, which killed at least 16 Afghan villagers, including nine children and three women, raises many questions: how much does this imperil the US mission in Afghanistan? And is it time for an earlier troop withdrawal? Michael Semple, former deputy to the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan, and Nick Colgin, a medic stationed in Afghanistan from January 2007 to April 2008, join the show to explain the possible ramifications of Sunday's act of violence. 

A rogue US Army staff sergeant has been accused of killing 16 villagers in Kandahar, Afghanistan early Sunday morning. The soldier reportedly went from house to house shooting victims which include nine children and three women. The soldier, who acted alone, is in custody at a NATO base in Afghanistan. After weeks of violence due to American soldiers burning the Koran, many fear the repercussions this shooting will have with the position of the Taliban and US-Afghan relations.

Two American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan during protests at a NATO base in the eastern Nangarhar province. These protests were the latest after the burning of the Koran by U.S. soldiers.

From February 10, 2007 to September 16, 2008, retired General David Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq. He was the mastermind behind the counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, and served as top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan until July of 2011, when he became director of the CIA. He is arguably one of the most influential military leaders in recent American history. A new biography about General Petraeus comes out this week.

On Tuesday, after months of denying it was interested in participating in formal talks to end the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban indicated it would consider opening a political office in Qatar. A political office would give mediators from the U.S. a legitimate contact for Taliban members. No details have been given about when these negotiations would begin, or what would be bargained for. This step also implies that there will continue to be some kind of Taliban presence inside Afghanistan.

Two attacks over the weekend in Afghanistan drew into even sharper relief the challenges of relations between Pakistan and the U.S. One reason: officials pointed to the first attack, in which a suicide bombing of an armored convoy killed 17 people, as a likely calling card not of the Taliban but the Haqqani terrorist network. The Haqqani network is based largely in Pakistan, and the U.S. has accused that country of supporting them. Now, American officials are in the difficult position of asking Pakistan for help in peace negotiations with the Haqqanis.   

Todaymarks ten years since the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan began — a milestone many people may not have imagined the U.S. would reach. For soldiers, the anniversary is cause for reflection. Special Forces Major Fernando M. Luján made his reflections public last week, in an op-ed in The New York Times called "This War Can Still Be Won." Luján, who was stationed in Afghanistan for 14 months, and is now a member of the Afghan Hands program, says "the Afghans have the will to win, with or without us."

Today marks ten years since U.S. invaded Afghanistan. In many ways, it's a quiet landmark; the White House has no public events planned to mark the occasion. The United States and NATO plan to leave the country by 2014, saving lives and billions of dollars for America. But, as retired Army General Stanley McChrystal said in remarks on Thursday night, many are worried that it will not have established a fully-functioning and secure government and military by the draw-down date. The U.S. and NATO remain "far from reaching their goals," McChrystal said.

On Wednesday, the Pew Research Center released a poll indicating that only a third of American servicemen and women believe the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been worth the costs. All of these complicated factors weigh on American efforts to withdraw troops from the country. The findings came only two days before the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is now the recipient of the largest amounts of aid in the world, accruing $33 billion over the past decade. But the country is still struggling, facing an unprecedented drought and appealing for food aid for the nearly ten million people who are suffering because of it.