NATO Endorses Plan to Exit Afghanistan (In Four More Years)

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Nato summit in Lisbon, Portugal, 20 Nov 2010



NATO Endorses Plan to Exit Afghanistan
VOA Afghanistan Service 20 November 2010

NATO leaders on Saturday endorsed a plan to start transferring leadership of the war in Afghanistan to Kabul, and completely hand over military control to Afghan forces by 2014.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed the decision of what he called the "effective, irreversible and sustainable" transition.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he does not foresee foreign troops in a combat role in Afghanistan after 2014.

Rasmussen said he is "confident" the parties could meet the 2014 deadline, but cautioned the move would depend on the security situation in Afghanistan.

Standing next to the NATO chief and Afghan leader on the second day of the 2-day NATO summit in Lisbon, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon cautioned that the drawdown has to be guided by "realities not schedules."