NATO leaders at a twoday summit in Lisbon have backed plans to begin transferring control to Afghan forces next year, with an eye to full Afghan control by 2014, while assuring Kabul that they will not abandon it.
U.S. President Barack
Obama, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai, and leaders of
NATO member states arrived
in Portugal to fine-tune the
alliance's exit strategy from Afghanistan,
as well as to discuss
missile defence and other ways
the military alliance can counter
21st-century threats.
"Here in Lisbon we have
launched the process by which
the Afghan people will once
again become masters in their
own house," NATO Secretary-
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
told reporters. "Starting
early next year Afghan forces
will begin taking the lead for
security operations." "This will
begin in certain districts …”
'Global Importance'
Rasmussen had said ahead
of the meeting that "Afghanistan's
fight against terrorism is
of strategic global importance."
He vowed the alliance would
maintain its military presence
in Afghanistan after the transition
to prevent that war-torn
country from slipping back
into chaos. NATO's "long-term
partnership" with Afghanistan
should "endure beyond the end
of our combat mission," he said.
Under the "Enduring Partnership"
agreement signed in
the Portuguese capital, the alliance
will continue to provide
air support, training, advice,
and logistics to Afghanistan's
armed forces after 2014.
A clause in that document
asserts “The lessons learned
from NATO operations, in particular
in Afghanistan and the
Western Balkans, make it clear
that a comprehensive political,
civilian and military approach
is necessary for effective crisis
management.”
Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, addressed the summit,
which was also attended by
representatives of the non-
NATO states that participate
in the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) in
Afghanistan.
The Afghan president said
he was confident the security
handover would be a success
and praised the “effective, irreversible
and sustainable”
transition.
Karzai told reporters that
Lisbon provided him with an
opportunity to discuss Afghan
concerns, including the problems
of civilian casualties and
detentions by foreign forces.
He also expressed satisfaction
over international support for
ongoing efforts to reach a peace
settlement with the Taliban.
"We have also spoken
about the peace process and the
need for the world leaders to
back the peace process," Karzai
told reporters, "and I'm glad to
report to you now that on all
the agendas that were common
between us, I found voices of
concord and agreement by the
world leaders."
At the press conference
after the NATO Summit in
Portugal, US President Barack
Obama explained the consensus:
“I've made it clear that
even as American’s transition
and troop reductions will begin
in July, we will also forge a
long-term partnership with
the Afghan people. And today,
NATO has done the same.”
