Washington, July 22: The US led coalition has quietly dropped plans to begin handing over control of provinces in Afghanistan to Afghan security forces by the end of 2010.
This comes amid fears among NATO member states that the new US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, is less committed to a speedy transfer of power, the British daily The Guardian reported on July 20.
According to the Guardian, this was revealed in the final agreement of the international conference in Kabul.
The conference agreed that the Afghan army and police be in charge of Afghanistan’s security by 2014. European countries were looking forward to a more rapid transition in northern and western Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a senior European diplomat said Petraeus’ approach was far less welcome than that of his predecessor, Stanley McChrystal.
“Petraeus is trying to slow everything down, pushing back any announcement of transition until 2011,” the British newspaper quoted the unnamed diplomat as saying ahead of the conference.
This comes despite an upsurge in attacks against US-led foreign troops and government forces in Afghanistan over the past months.
Foreign forces are experiencing some of their bloodiest days in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
Some 140,000 US-led troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan. A further 10,000 troops are expected to be deployed to the war-ravaged country in the coming weeks.
——Agencies