The NATO is sticking to the security transition plan in Afghanistan mapped out in 2010 and the military alliance will hand over security responsibilities of the country to Afghan forces by the end of 2014, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday.

"We are on track to reach the goal, we together with you Mr. president, set in Lisbon when we met at the NATO summit in November 2010, our goal is an Afghanistan with Afghan fully in charge of their own security by the end of 2014 and our commitment to our partnership with the Afghan people beyond 2014 remains strong," Rasmussen told reporters at a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The NATO chief, who is on an unannounced visit here, said the NATO will continue to train, fund and support Afghan security forces even after 2014 when Afghan forces take full control of the nations.

The NATO and its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will continue to play its supportive role in the transition process and will conduct necessary military combat, the NATO chief added.

At the same press briefing, Karzai said that his government will step up efforts to take full control of the country by 2013.

In response to a question about an early presidential election to be held in 2014, the Afghan leader said that "This is something that I've been thinking for some time ... I've not had a final decision yet, but it will not be soon."

The U.S. and NATO agreed that the Afghan soldiers and police they are helping to train and fund will reach some 352,000 by October this year, a goal estimated to cost more than 4 billion U. S. dollars per year.

To a question about reducing the Afghan army and police to about 230,000 by 2017, Rasmussen said that "No decision has been made yet as to how we will adopt that size in the years after 2014, two factors will be decisive when we are going to determine the long term sustainable size of the Afghan security forces, one factor of course is the security situation on the ground and another fact is the capacity of the Afghan security forces."

The Afghan forces and NATO troops have completed transition in the first two of five tranches of provinces and districts across the country where about half of the Afghan population now lives. Afghan forces are assuming major security responsibility in those areas.

Around 130,000-strong NATO-led ISAF troops with some 90,000 of them Americans are currently stationed in Afghanistan to help stabilize the militancy-plagued country and fight Taliban-led insurgency.

According to U.S. President Barack Obama's withdrawal plan, 10, 000 U.S. troops already pulled out from Afghanistan last year and another 23,000 will return home by September this year.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)