By Elise Labott

As NATO leaders discuss the winding down of its 10-year war in Afghanistan and pat themselves on the back for helping in the bloody ouster of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, there is one increasingly deadly conflict that is taboo for the alliance to even think about wading into: Syria.

Practically every NATO leader has publicly condemned the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and called for him to step down and make way for a democratic transition in Syria. Yet U.S. ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said Sunday that not one leader even raised the issue of Syria during the opening day of the summit.
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Editor's note: Read all of Security Clearance's coverage of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago.  Follow our reporting and other key NATO tweets with our NATO summit Twitter list.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that he expects a deal "in the very near future" to reopen Pakistan's border with Afghanistan for war supply shipments.

"So far, the closure of the transit routes has not had a major impact on our operations," Rasmussen said, but added the transit routes were very important and that he expected their reopening "in the very near future."

Recommended: NATO accepts Obama timetable to end war

But the issue was unresolved even as NATO leaders signed off Monday on President Barack Obama's exit strategy from Afghanistan that calls for an end to combat operations next year and the withdrawal of the U.S.-led international military force by the end of 2014.

Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari was surely feeling some pressure.   Even a normally bland NATO document took note of thanking Central Asian countries and Russia for aiding in transporting supplies, while urging Pakistan to "reopen the ground lines of communication as soon as possible." FULL POST

Editor's note: Read all of Security Clearance's coverage of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago.  Follow our reporting and other key NATO tweets with our NATO summit Twitter list.

NATO must be willing to be involved in conflict away from the immediate geography of the member nations, the group's secretary general told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday.

Rasmussen was responding to a Security Clearance article by CNN Foreign Affairs Reporter Elise Labott which reported that the decade-long NATO involvement in Afghanistan has produced what some have described as collective fatigue among European allies and questions about whether NATO should be involved in conflicts outside of Europe's backyard.

"In today's world all allies realize that territorial defense of our populations and our countries may very well start beyond our borders," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen responded in an interview that aired on CNN's State of the Union.

Recommended: U.S., Pakistan fail to reach deal on supply routes ahead of NATO meetings

In regards to Afghanistan, Rasmussen said NATO members are starting to pledge the money needed to support Afghanistan, an issue that the U.S. is raising with other countries.  Rasmussen described himself as "optimistic" the necessary funds to support Afghanistan's forces will be achieved. FULL POST

Editor's note: Read all of Security Clearance's coverage of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago

By Shaan Khan and Reza Sayah reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan

Four trucks containing supplies for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul drove from Pakistan into Afghanistan on Friday, the first time Pakistan has allowed such a border crossing since closing the routes six months ago, a U.S. official said.

The source noted that officially, there had never been a suspension of the movement of diplomatic supplies through Pakistan, only military supplies, and this did not mean the NATO supply routes had been reopened. But this was the first time diplomatic materials were allowed through in six months. FULL POST

By Elise Labott

The United States will resume some arms sales to Bahrain after suspending them amid the country's crackdown on protesters, the State Department announced Friday.

The administration informed Congress that "for national security interests we have decided to release additional items and services for the Bahrain Defense Force, the Coast Guard, and the National Guard for the purpose of helping Bahrain maintain its external defense capabilities," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a written statement.

"Bahrain is an important security partner and ally in a region facing enormous challenges. Maintaining our and our partners' ability to respond to these challenges is a critical component of our commitment to Gulf security."

The United States and Bahrain signed a defense pact in 1991. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet and is viewed as an important bulwark against Iran's influence in the Persian Gulf.
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By Nick Paton Walsh

Up to 20 high-level insurgent prisoners have been released from NATO custody in Afghanistan over the past two years in an effort to boost peace negotiations with the Taliban in various regions of the country, according to U.S. officials.

The insurgents, held at the jointly-run NATO-Afghan detention facility of Parwan, are considered "bad guys," said one U.S. official who did not want to be identified discussing a sensitive issue. Their release was undertaken, the official said, often at the request of the Afghan government. In all cases, they were assessed as unlikely to rejoin the insurgency.

The official added that the Taliban detainees had been in the maximum security Parwan detention center “for a reason” – but that NATO "does not release anyone when there is a high likelihood they will rejoin the insurgency." The official said he was aware of only two releases in the last nine months. FULL POST

By Jill Dougherty reporting from Beijing

Throughout her nearly 24-hour journey from Washington to Beijing, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton avoided the cameras of journalists traveling on her plane.

For nearly a week leading up the trip - ever since the blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng had fled his village home and sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing - both the secretary and her spokespersons refused to answer any and all questions about him, save a tight-lipped "We've got nothing on that for you."

But the U.S. officials did have someting, a full-scale diplomatic mess that would play out not just behind closed doors, but through the media and social media with every few hours bringing a new twist.

His arrival had been dramatic. A U.S. official speaking on background because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue said that embassy officials took a car to retrieve Chen after he fled. Their vehicle was tailed by Chinese security and the Americans took action to evade those vehicles. Embassy staff began preparing for a long stay by Chen, possibly even a year, as another activist had done more than 20 years previously.
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U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker talks to CNN's Christiane Amanpour  about the attacks that followed President Obama’s surprise visit to Afghanistan and whether he believes the bombing was a message to the U.S. President.

Crocker calls the attacks "tragic" but he does not believe the attacks were related to the President's visit and Crocker says Kabul is "a pretty normal, pretty secure city."

The full interview airs at 3pET on CNN International.

By Elise Labott

American officials arrive in Pakistan Wednesday for negotiations over parliamentary recommendations on how Islamabad wants to deal with Washington in the future, as the two countries seek to repair their frayed ties, senior U.S. officials told CNN.

The inter-agency delegation, led by Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, also will include officials from the Pentagon, CIA and other U.S. agencies, the officials said. Tri-lateral talks with an Afghan delegation will be part of the trip as well.

The talks would be the first in-depth engagement since Pakistan's parliament rolled out a set of new guidelines for its relations with the United States, in which it agreed to re-engage with Washington after months of tension over deadly airstrikes on a Pakistani border post by NATO forces and other issues. Grossman had tried to visit Pakistan a few months ago, but the Pakistani government delayed the visit until the parliamentary process could be completed.

Officials were careful not to raise expectations for the talks, saying they weren't sure what could be accomplished in the first meeting. But they said it was important to try to renew the working relationship between the two countries.
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By Elise Labott

After North Korea's failed satellite launch in defiance of the international community, U.S. officials and experts say the Obama administration could move away from a policy of engagement toward one of containment.

"I think there is going to be much less time for the DPRK issue in this town," a senior official said about the Obama administration's patience for the issue. "Maybe we say, 'we gave it a shot, and they made a decision that they have to live with.' What are we going to do? We can't keep trying to help them help themselves." FULL POST