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A NATO soldier opens fire in an apparent warning shot in the vicinity of journalists near the main gate of Camp Qargha, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. A man dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire Tuesday on foreign troops at a military base, causing casualties, an Afghan military spokesman said. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini) AP

When President Obama and other leaders belonging to the NATO coalition meet this week in Newport, Wales, they'll have plenty on their plate to discuss, between Russia's hostility toward Ukraine and the growing threat from ISIS. Before tackling those subjects, however, they'll have to address the unexpectedly complicated situation in Afghanistan.

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After 13 years of war in Afghanistan, NATO allies expected that this week's summit would mark the smooth withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan. NATO countries are expected to keep troops there past this year with the mission of training and advising Afghan security forces. Now, however, with the results of Afghanistan's presidential elections unclear, it's unclear what role the U.S. and NATO will play there.

"When the summit was announced a year ago, everyone thought this would be a meeting in which NATO... would celebrate the end of the mission," Ivo Daalder, former U.S. permanent representative to NATO and president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, told reporters Wednesday. "The developments in Afghanistan have put a monkey wrench in that part of the conversation."

The United States and its allies have been waiting for months for Afghan leadership to sign a bilateral security agreement (BSA) that would provide the legal framework for the U.S. to keep troops in Afghanistan past this year -- critically, that would include immunity for troops. However, outgoing President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the agreement. The two candidates competing to replace Karzai, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, have agreed to sign it, but both are contesting the election results.

Without a signed agreement protecting U.S. troops, the U.S. would pull all troops out of Afghanistan, and NATO allies would follow.

"I think there's a lot of nervousness... particularly on the military side, in terms of the timelines," Kathleen Hicks, director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told reporters last week. "If there's not a BSA for the U.S. -- and ergo, not a BSA for NATO with Afghanistan -- that there would have to be a very stressful timeline to pull out troops."

Yet with no political agreement in sight, no head of state from Afghanistan will be present at the NATO summit.

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Obama and NATO face uncertainty instead of closure in Afghanistan

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Gene Aloise, deputy special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, told a gathering of federal watchdogs Wednesday that their oversight of government is crucial and is producing real results.

People, companies and agencies need to be held seriously accountable for stupid decisions, dereliction of duty, corrupt behavior and subpar performance, he said. Otherwise, we simply foster the expectation that additional waste, fraud and abuse will be tolerated.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, Mr. Aloise pointed to his agencys investigation of the $104 billion that the U.S. has spent rebuilding Afghanistan.

He said some contractors werent properly installing countermeasures to protect coalition troops against improvised explosive devices, but quick corrective military action might have saved many lives.

Mr. Aloise said the militarys contracting process may be letting in businesses that aid terrorists.

His agency identified 43 cases of Afghanistan contractors labeled by the military as actively supporting the insurgency, but the Armys suspension and debarment officers decided that these designations were not adequate grounds for suspension or debarment and rejected all 43 cases, he said.

We do not understand why the Army permits deadly enemies and their sympathizers to get federal dollars which can be used to buy the means to kill our troops, Mr. Aloise said.

The U.S. must scrutinize the lessons learned in Afghanistan if it hopes to avoid mistakes in the future, he said.

It is clear that reconstruction progress needs to be measured in realistic and useful ways, Mr. Aloise said. If we are going to learn anything from the reconstruction experience, we need to have accurate assessments of the proximate cause of both successes and failures.

Once any investigation has been completed, Mr. Aloise said, its important to alert the public, spur action and deter fraud. Publicity, however, is not meant to give personal glory to the investigators, he said.

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Afghanistan inspector says government oversight is crucial to prevent fraud, waste