NATO To Discuss Afghan Exit Strategy At Lisbon

NATO leaders will meet Friday in Portuguese capital Lisbon for a two-day summit to decide on the shift in strategy in Afghanistan, including a time-table for the gradual withdrawal of most of its 150,000 troops from the war-ravaged southwest Asian nation within four years.

The target year for handing over security to Afghan forces (2014) will top the agenda of the meeting.

Also on the agenda will be erecting an anti-ballistic missile shield over Europe to protect NATO members, and underline the importance of co-operation with strategic partners, including Russia, through which NATO wants to broaden its supply routes to Afghanistan.

The 28-member alliance is also expected to commit to bolstering resources for overseas operations, slash the number of command headquarters to make them more easily deployable in conflicts in faraway lands, such as Afghanistan, and unveil a new "strategic concept," NATO's mission statement for the next decade to counter 21st century threats, ranging from cyber strikes to global terrorism.

NATO's exit strategy hinges on its ability to train about 134,000 Afghan police officers and 170,000 soldiers by next October. The process has been hampered by high rates of desertion and a corrupt, unstable and inefficient Afghan government, presently under President Karzai, that is widely seen as incapable of surviving long without foreign military support.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen admitted Thursday that the alliance committed mistakes on Afghanistan, notably by waiting until last year to start training Afghans.

"We'll make a positive announcement in Lisbon, that the handover is about to begin," he added.
Earlier Monday, U.S. envoy to Afghanistan/Pakistan Richard Holbrooke told reporters in Islamabad that the Lisbon summit would charter the end of the alliance's combat mission.

But the U.S. Defense Department clarified Thursday the exit strategy plan represented an "aspirational goal" rather than a rigid deadline.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon's press secretary, said non-Afghan forces might remain in Afghanistan beyond the target date though the U.S. was hopeful that Afghan forces would be able to take the lead for ensuring security to that mountainous and war-ravaged country within four years.

"So, 2014 has been out there for quite some time as an aspirational goal for us to meet in terms of ultimately putting the Afghan security forces in the lead, having primary responsibility for the security of their country," he said.

Morrell's comments echoed that of Mark Sedwill, NATO's civilian representative in Afghanistan, who Wednesday described the 2014 deadline as "realistic but not guaranteed." NATO hopes to switch to a training-and-support role over the four years, but Sedwill warned that inadequate security in some areas could push the target year beyond 2014.

The NATO summit comes in the backdrop of dismay in Washington after Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought a diminished role for American troops in his country.

Karzai specifically called for ending nightime raids of U.S. special forces, the cornerstone of a new military policy devised by General David Petraeus, the supreme commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Ahead of Friday's summit, anti-Nato activists staged demonstrations against its military presence in Afghanistan, with several more expected to join the protests Saturday.