NATO chief hopes Afghan provincial power handover can begin in November

Published November 17, 2014

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — NATO's secretary-general hopes the alliance can begin handing over control of some Afghan provinces to local authorities beginning in November.

NATO, which is leading a 120,000-member force against the Taliban there, plans to train and gradually hand over responsibility to the growing Afghan army and police forces. Violence is escalating in Afghanistan, however, deepening concern in Washington and other allied capitals over the direction of the war.

"We will stay (in Afghanistan) as long as it takes to finish our job, but obviously that's not forever," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during a visit to Lisbon, Portugal, where a NATO summit will be held Nov. 19-20.

"I do hope that we will be able to make an announcement at the Lisbon summit that transition can start in some provinces," he said Friday, without elaborating.

President Barack Obama has set a July 2011 target date to begin withdrawing American troops from the country.

Fogh Rasmussen said that date was an opportunity to review the effects of this year's NATO troop increase "but it will definitely not be a withdrawal from Afghanistan."

"Our mission will end when the Afghans are capable to govern and to secure their own country themselves," Fogh Rasmussen said. "Obviously, Afghanistan will remain our most important operation for quite some time."

The 46-nation NATO force is awaiting the arrival of a new commander, Gen. David Petraeus, who has warned he expects hard fighting this summer.

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