KABUL: Afghan forces should be leading security
operations across the country by 2014, an international conference agreed
Tuesday, with the aim of relieving foreign troops in some areas by as soon as
the end of the year.
The somewhat rosy picture assumes success by the 150,000
NATO-led foreign troops in an ongoing operation against the Taleban in their
heartland, as well as in persuading thousands of insurgents to lay down their
arms.
The current state of security, however, was starkly
illustrated earlier Tuesday when a plane carrying UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon to the conference had to divert from Kabul airport to NATO's Bagram
airfield, around 60 km away, after an insurgent rocket attack.
Despite a massive security crackdown for the conference,
which drew around 60 foreign ministers including US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, insurgents managed to land at least five rockets near the airport and
diplomatic area around midnight.
They fell harmlessly, officials said.
The final communiqué from the gathering said the Afghan
government would be given more responsibility for its own affairs — including
security — in exchange for guarantees it will improve standards and
accountability.
"Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) should lead
and conduct military operations in all provinces by the end of 2014," said
the communiqué.
Lawmaker Daud Sultanzoi said the goal was laudable but
"wishful thinking".
"Looking at it from a realistic perspective, it is a
very good and necessary goal, but in terms of its practicality there are so
many questions that have to be answered before we can really just stick to a
timetable," he told Reuters.
The United States plans to start withdrawing troops from
July next year, and Clinton told the conference that the target date
underscored the urgency of transferring more security responsibility to the
Afghan government.
"The July 2011 date captures both our sense of
urgency and the strength of our resolve. The transition process is too
important to push off indefinitely," she said.
The Taleban have been emboldened by talk of transition
timetables and convinced that Washington is not committed to a drawn-out fight
they insist they will not stop fighting until all foreign forces leave.
The communiqué said participants gave strong support for
channeling at least 50 percent of development aid through the government within
two years, from the current 20 percent.
More than $40 billion has been spent on Afghanistan since
2002, Oxfam says — around half towards training and equipping the army and
police force.
The communiqué said Karzai also won support for a peace
plan that aims to win over and reintegrate an estimated 36,000 insurgent foot
soldiers while exploring talks with moderate Taleban leaders.
Lawmaker Sultanzoi said Afghanistan would rely on foreign
military help until the national mindset changed. "It is not just the
equipment and gear and technical things," he said. "It is also a
culture that a national army has to possess in order to take control of the
defense of a nation."
The murder of two American trainers and an Afghan soldier
Tuesday by a renegade Afghan soldier demonstrated the hurdles that lie ahead in
entrusting Afghan forces with security.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it
was investigating whether the gunman, believed to have been an army trainer,
turned his gun on his comrades in a deliberate attack or by accident during the
basic training exercise. The shooter also died.
