THE AFGHAN government will have responsibility for shaping its own future, the United Nations secretary general said after foreign ministers backed an ambitious handover plan to let Kabul eventually lead security and nation-building efforts.
However, plans to begin handing control of provinces in Afghanistan to local security forces by the end of this year have been quietly dropped amid fears among European countries that Gen David Petraeus is less committed to a speedy transfer of power.
More than 70 foreign ministers and representatives from international organisations endorsed Hamid Karzai’s proposal for a handover of frontline fighting against the Taliban by 2014.
A communique issued at the conference announced a gradual transition of security and government to Afghan hands in an attempt to wean the country from foreign dependence. The change of tack was revealed in the final communique from yesterday’s historic conference.
Mr Karzai had told the conference: “We all agree that steady transition to Afghan leadership and ownership is the key to sustainability.” In return for a timetable of government reform and economy-boosting investment, the agreement will channel more aid direct into the Afghan treasury.
World leaders including Hillary Clinton, United States secretary of state, and Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary general, agreed to the communique, but warned Mr Karzai must do more to tackle the corruption undermining state-building efforts.
“There are no short-cuts to fighting corruption and improving governance,” Ms Clinton warned. “On this front, both the Afghan people and the people of the international community expect results.” She acknowledged that “the road ahead will not be easy”.
Citizens in many nations represented at the conference wondered whether success was achievable at all. “The transition process is too important to push off indefinitely,” she added.
Mr Ban said: “Afghanistan will now take the lead in shaping the country’s future.”
Meanwhile Mr Karzai described the Taliban-led insurgency as “a vicious common enemy that violates every Islamic and international norm to break our unity of effort”.
“I remain determined that our Afghan National Security Forces will be responsible for all military and law enforcement operations throughout our country by 2014,” he said.
Responsibility for securing Afghanistan will be handed over province by province. Foreign troops will remain as trainers.
Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who has in the past warned against setting artificial withdrawal deadlines, said: “Our mission will end when, but only when, the Afghans are able to maintain security on their own.”
The conference proceeded under very tight security. Insurgents managed to launch several rockets the night before the event.
Mr Ban and the Swedish and Danish foreign ministers were delayed arriving after a rocket attack on the airport, but otherwise the strict security lockdown appeared effective. Foreign ministers spent four hours giving speeches praising the transition plan. A note of dissent came from the Iranian foreign minister, who overran his allotted speech time arguing Nato and US troops had exacerbated violence in Afghanistan. “With increased foreign troops the security situation is getting worse and a positive change is not foreseeable in the near future,” Manouchehr Mottaki said. “It is clear that increased deployment of foreign forces and foreign military operations has not only not helped the problem, but has added to the level of violence.”
The challenges of a handover to the Afghan military were underscored when it was disclosed that an Afghan soldier had shot dead two American military trainers at a boot camp firing rage in northern Afghanistan yesterday. The motive for the shooting near Mazar-i-Sharif was unknown. It followed a week after a renegade soldier killed three British soldiers in Helmand province before fleeing.