NATO: Afghans Can Take Control in 2011 09/07 12:29

   U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan should be able to start handing off 
responsibility for security to the Kabul government sometime next year, 
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan should be able to 
start handing off responsibility for security to the Kabul government sometime 
next year, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday.

   While stopping short of setting a firm deadline, Rasmussen's public 
declaration puts the security alliance in line with President Barack Obama's 
promise to begin pulling U.S. troops out in July 2011.

   But Rasmussen's latest prediction also reflects a growing realization by 
NATO that security conditions won't dramatically improve this year, as many 
hoped. At a NATO meeting in April, the secretary general had said that handing 
over responsibility to the Afghans was a primary goal for this year.

   Some NATO members have already pulled out of the mission or plan to do so 
soon because of a lack of public support.

   NATO members were to meet in Lisbon in November to devise a plan for handing 
off control to the Afghans, including a timeline for various provinces and 
benchmarks to measure progress.

   Rasmussen said he believes security conditions have improved enough so a 
transition is possible. However, he said the precise timing of a drawdown will 
depend upon conditions on the ground.

   "We will not leave until we finish our job," he told reporters ahead of a 
meeting with Obama at the White House. "But it is very helpful to have this 
roadmap."

   War commanders have been more reluctant to put a date on when Afghan troops 
might take control. Lt. Gen. Bill Caldwell, the head of NATO's training mission 
in Afghanistan, has said that the alliance needs at least another year to 
recruit and train enough soldiers and police officers.

   Rasmussen said that setting next year as a goal for beginning to wind down 
troop levels does not conflict with a recent request by Gen. David Petraeus, 
NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, for 2,000 more troops. Rasmussen said many 
of the 2,000 troops would be assigned to train Afghan security forces, in 
preparation for NATO's eventual withdrawal.

   "Trainers are the ticket to transition," he said.

   He said he did not know if the U.S. or other NATO allies would supply the 
additional forces.

   NATO has been eager to show progress in the war. The alliance's top 
commander in southern Afghanistan, British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, said this 
week that coalition troops will clear the area around the key city of Kandahar 
by December.

   Although U.S. and NATO forces are expected to begin leaving next year, the 
U.S. government is expected to provide massive financial aid to Afghanistan for 
years to come.

   According to a NATO document, the United States expects to spend about $6 
billion a year training and supporting Afghan troops and police after it begins 
withdrawing its own combat troops in 2011.


(KA)