Afghan, British Leaders Discuss Security Transition
VOA News March 01, 2011
Britain is pledging long-term support for Afghanistan, as international troops prepare to begin transferring security responsibility to Afghan forces.
British Prime Minister David Cameron held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in London Tuesday. At a joint press briefing, Cameron said progress was being made in Afghanistan with the build-up of Afghan forces.
The British leader noted the importance of building on the military campaign by making sure the government carries out wide reform to help sustain Afghanistan.
Cameron also pledged support for the Afghan-led reconciliation and reintegration efforts aimed at insurgents who are willing to renounce al-Qaida and join the political process.
President Karzai said Afghanistan will be honored to have a long-term and enduring partnership with Britain. He said Afghanistan will do its best to use British help to provide Afghans with a better and more peaceful future.
Cameron says he wants British troops out of Afghanistan by 2015. Britain has about 10,000 troops in the country.
During his visit, President Karzai will also open an exhibition of Afghan artifacts at London's British Museum. The display, which spans 3,000 years of Afghan history, will feature more than 200 objects from the National Museum of Afghanistan.
The objects survived civil war and Taliban rule in the 1990s.
Separately, NATO says one of its service members was killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday. The coalition did not give details.
And the State Department says the new U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, will travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan this week to meet with government officials. Grossman replaces Richard Holbrooke, who died suddenly late last year.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
