and coalition forces to the Afghans. Announcing an increase of 30,000 U.S. troops last week, U.S.President Barack Obama said they will begin to hand over security responsibility to Afghan forces by July of 2011, but he did not say how long the transition will take.

VOA: standard.2009.12.09

"What we hear is that the kind of legally binding agreement that we,for instance, did inside the European Union, will probably not be possible since some of the countries like the United States say we do not have the support in our congress to make a ratification on an international agreement,".

VOA: standard.2009.11.06

"I expect him to address the German situation as he did the Irish and I'll bet you that you'll see some kind of language that will - using very papal rhetoric, acknowledge that the way the bishops were dealing with it in 1980 or thereabouts, when he was in that role, was we now know, not the best way."

VOA: standard.2010.04.01