Obama to Host NATO Summit on Afghanistan in 2012

U.S. President Barack Obama will host a NATO summit on Afghanistan in his hometown of Chicago in May 2012, along with the G8 meeting of leaders of industrialized nations, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

Obama will make the announcement about the NATO meeting devoted to progress in the Afghan war during his primetime address laying out a troop drawdown strategy at 8:00 pm Wednesday (0000 GMT), the official said on condition of anonymity.

It will not be the first time that Obama brings world leaders to a venue close to his heart. This year's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit will take place in his native Hawaii in November.

The last time the United States hosted the G8 summit was under former president George W. Bush in Sea Island, Georgia in 2004.

The NATO summit will permit leaders to follow up on goals laid down at the western alliance's summit in Lisbon last November, at which they endorsed a 2014 date for the handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces.