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NATO will not leave Afghanistan 'in lurch,' says Karzai

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, March 1, IRNA -- There will be a complete transition of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 with national forces taking over full responsibility for the country's security, according to President Hamid Karzai.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Karzai in London, Prime Minister David Cameron also confirmed that British troops, currently numbering more than 10,000 in Afghanistan, will have ended combat operations in the country by 2015.

But the Afghan president insisted that NATO troops, led by the US and UK, will not leave the country “in the lurch” when they withdraw, which could start as early as this year.

The two leaders were discussing issues including the planned transition of security responsibility from international troops to their Afghan counterparts in 2014.

In his latest monthly report published on Monday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that by the middle of January the Afghan national army (ANA) had reached a total of around 149,500 personnel and the Afghan national police (ANP) around 117,000.

“Both are still on track to meet the targets agreed at the London conference in January 2010” when the planned transition was drawn up, Hague said.

But last month, Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey revealed that the number of trained ANA forces working in partnership with British troops in Task Force Helmand (TFH) had declined between May 2009 and November last year from 2,351 to 2,102.

In a written parliamentary reply, Harvey said that during the period the TFH area of operations was decreasing in size and consequently the number of ANA personnel appears to be decreasing, but insisted there has been an improvement in Helmand as a whole.

During his two day visit to London, Karzai is also opening an a major exhibition of Afghan artefacts at the British Museum that were said to have been saved from several decades of civil war and Taliban rule.