Afghanistan forces ready for take-over
8 May 2012 2:26 AM GMT
Afghan forces are ready to take responsibility for security in 2013, the defence ministry said on Monday, reacting to a pledge to withdraw French troops early by president-elect Francois Hollande.
'For us a NATO stance is more important than individual decisions by individual nations,' ministry spokesman Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. 'And Afghanistan is well prepared to take over all security responsibilities in 2013.
'Hollande made a campaign promise to pull French soldiers out of Afghanistan this year, ending his country's combat role two years earlier than NATO's carefully crafted plan to hand security control to Afghans by 2014. 'I believe that, without taking any risks for our troops, it is the right thing to withdraw our combat troops b y the end of 2012,' Hollande said last week.
A senior Afghan defence official, however, said that a withdrawal would be premature and the pledge appeared to have been aimed at a French audience. 'From a military point of view I think it's not practical to withdraw troops within what's left of 2012,' the official said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the issue. 'I think it was rather an election campaign promise than a practical decision. They won't withdraw this year,' he said.
Hollande now has to work hard to reassure NATO allies that his plan will not upend the war strategy. The early French pull-out challenges NATO assurances that there would be no 'rush to the exit' in Afghanistan, even though the war is unpopular in the West after a decade of fighting that has killed almost 3,000 foreign troops.
In Chicago, NATO wants to show a united front, repeating its 'in together, out together' mantra as it fine-tunes the final phase of a mission that has yet to defeat the Taliban despite the presence of 130,000 foreign troops. Hollande is to meet fellow NATO leaders at a summit hosted by US President Barack Obama in Chicago on 20-21 May. Â
'For us a NATO stance is more important than individual decisions by individual nations,' ministry spokesman Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. 'And Afghanistan is well prepared to take over all security responsibilities in 2013.
'Hollande made a campaign promise to pull French soldiers out of Afghanistan this year, ending his country's combat role two years earlier than NATO's carefully crafted plan to hand security control to Afghans by 2014. 'I believe that, without taking any risks for our troops, it is the right thing to withdraw our combat troops b y the end of 2012,' Hollande said last week.
A senior Afghan defence official, however, said that a withdrawal would be premature and the pledge appeared to have been aimed at a French audience. 'From a military point of view I think it's not practical to withdraw troops within what's left of 2012,' the official said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the issue. 'I think it was rather an election campaign promise than a practical decision. They won't withdraw this year,' he said.
Hollande now has to work hard to reassure NATO allies that his plan will not upend the war strategy. The early French pull-out challenges NATO assurances that there would be no 'rush to the exit' in Afghanistan, even though the war is unpopular in the West after a decade of fighting that has killed almost 3,000 foreign troops.
In Chicago, NATO wants to show a united front, repeating its 'in together, out together' mantra as it fine-tunes the final phase of a mission that has yet to defeat the Taliban despite the presence of 130,000 foreign troops. Hollande is to meet fellow NATO leaders at a summit hosted by US President Barack Obama in Chicago on 20-21 May. Â
Next Story
