"Timely security handover, prevention of civilian deaths and improvement of Afghan army in terms of quality and quantity are on the top of our agenda," Defence Ministry spokesperson Gen. Zaher Azimi said.
Commander of Coalition Troops in Afghanistan General David Petraeus has described military gains "fragile and reversible".
"They want to regain these areas that were of such importance to them, but they will have to do it without owning those areas, needless to say. So, in some respects, as Secretary Gates has said, they will play an "away" game this year, rather than a "home" game as they have played in the past," Gen. Petraeus has said.
By the beginning of Afghan New Year President
Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
named a number of locations for the first phase of security handover this year.
Afghan cops, as planned, will start to take over security lead in a number of provinces and districts where there is little risk of Taliban attacks.
While emphasising that Afghan forces should be provided with modern equipment, Afghan army is preparing for the security handover.