KABUL: Afghan security forces will soon take over responsibility for the whole of the country, officials said yesterday, a major milestone as the NATO-led war effort winds down after 12 years of fighting.

The handover of the last 95 districts from NATO to Afghan forces includes many of the most volatile areas of south and east Afghanistan where the Taleban have fought a bloody insurgency against the US-backed government since 2001.

NATO and Afghan officials, who declined to be named, said that President Hamid Karzai would attend a ceremony within days to mark a key point of the “transition process” to full Afghan sovereignty.

The exact date and location of the handover has not yet been announced, but it will complete a program started in 2011 when relatively-peacefully areas inhabited by about 20 percent of the population were put under Afghan security.

“The event will be held shortly and 95 districts in 11 provinces are included in the fifth and final phase. Further details will be released later for security reasons,” an Afghan government official told AFP.

The last “tranche” of districts includes 13 in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taleban, and 12 in each of Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika provinces — all hotbeds of insurgent activity along the border with Pakistan.

After the handover, 100,000 NATO forces will only play a supporting and training role as Afghan soldiers and police take the lead in the fight against the militants who were ousted from power after the 9/11 attacks.