KABUL - The U.S. and its international partners agreed Tuesday on a roadmap for Afghan forces to take the lead in securing the nation by 2014 amid doubts that that they would meet the first goal - for the Afghans to assume control in certain areas by the end of the year.
At a one-day conference in a locked-down Afghan capital, President Hamid Karzai said he was determined that his soldiers and police will be responsible for all military and law enforcement operations by 2014.
"This is a national objective that we have to fulfill, and we must," Karzai told reporters after the conference, attended by more than 40 foreign ministers and other dignitaries including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Talk of a 2014 date - which corresponds with the end of Karzai's term - enables politicians to tell their war-weary publics that the war will not drag on indefinitely, draining resources at a time of economic hardship and rising death tolls.
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It also sends a signal to the Afghans that the Western commitment to the country will extend beyond July 2011, when President Obama says he will begin withdrawing U.S. troops. Nonetheless, it leaves open the question of whether the Afghans will be ready to manage their affairs, even four years down the road.
The international community supported Karzai's 2014 goal and endorsed a phased-in transition for Afghan policemen and soldiers to take the lead in the country's 34 provinces.
"I can't give you names of provinces, but our goal is to hand over lead responsibility to the Afghans when conditions permit," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
The conference discussed how Afghan security forces are on track to reach a goal of 171,600 police and 134,000 soldiers by October 2011, but worries persist about their professionalism.
NATO reported Tuesday that two American civilians and two Afghan soldiers were killed in a shooting on a northern Afghan military base.
An Afghan soldier who trained others at the base outside Mazar-e-Sharif started shooting during a weapons exercise, the international military coalition said in a statement.
US Toll in Afghanistan
• Deaths: 1,100
• Wounded: 7,010
Latest identifications
• Sgt. Justin B. Allen, 23, of Coal Grove, Ohio; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.
• 1st Lt. Robert N. Bennedsen, 25, of Vashon, Wash.; assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.
• Gunnery Sgt. Christopher L. Eastman, 28, of Moose Pass, Ark.; assigned to the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
SOURCE: Department of Defense
