NATO supports roadmap for transition to Afghan security lead
On 20 July, the NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, took part in the International Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul where the Afghan government presented its programme for transition to Afghan responsibility and ownership. As part of this process, the Afghan government and the international community, including NATO, endorsed a joint framework for transition to Afghan security lead.
The process of transition, or “Inteqal” in Dari and Pashtu, will be based on mutually agreed criteria; it will be implemented gradually on the basis of a sober assessment of the political and security situation to ensure it is irreversible.
Transition, a process
The Secretary General said: “We share the ambition expressed by President Karzai to see the Afghan National Security Forces take lead security responsibility all over Afghanistan by the end of 2014. This provides us with a timetable, but of course the whole process must be conditions based. We will not leave Afghanistan until we know for sure that the Afghans can take care of their own security.”
He added: "Transition is a process and we need to train and educate more Afghan soldiers and more Afghan police. Yesterday I visited a police training centre. I was impressed by what I saw. I feel confident that the Afghans will gradually be able to take lead security responsibility.”
Building on commitments made at the International Conference on Afghanistan in London in January 2010, the Kabul Conference brought together Foreign Ministers and senior representatives of more than 70 nations, international and regional organisations and financial institutions. It was chaired by the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon.