Afghan security handover 'by mid-2013'

[Amster Dan]

Source: aljazeera

Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have endorsed plans to hand Afghan forces the lead for security across their country by mid-2013 while foreign troops will gradually switch their focus from combat to support mode.

In a Chicago summit declaration on Monday, US President Barack Obama and his 27 military allies confirmed plans to withdraw their combat troops by the end of 2014 and leave behind a training mission.

"The irreversible transition of full security responsibility from the International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] to the Afghan National Security Forces [ANSF] is on track for completion by the end of 2014," they said.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's secretary-general, said that the international allies remained committed to a secure and democratic Afghanistan. To that end, he said, there would be a NATO-led presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014 to advise, train and assist Afghan forces.

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, announced last week that his forces were ready to take over security in several new provinces, putting them in charge of protecting 75 per cent of Afghanistan's population.

Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/05/2012521143721612378.html

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Didn't realize ol' Hamid was a comedian.

[Iliyah]

1. If the repugs gets in

you might as well forget that cause by that time the repugs would have started WW3.