Karzai to announce security transition March 21

Source: AFP

MUNICH, Germany — President Hamid Karzai said Sunday he will unveil on March 21 the first provinces where Afghan forces will take over command of the battlefield from NATO, a decade after the US invasion.

NATO plans to begin this year handing Afghan forces the security lead in the battle against Taliban rebels, province by province, with the aim of giving them full responsibility across the nation by 2014.

"We are determined to demonstrate Afghan leadership and ownership of the transition process," Karzai told the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of defence leaders in the German city.

"I will announce the first phase of transition on the new Afghan year, which is the 21st of March," he said.

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