Updated on
Summary
NATO heads of the states have endorsed the repatriation plan of the coalition forces from Afghanistan till 2014. The Secretary General of NATO Andre Rasmussen has said that there are no more safe hide-outs of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan but even then the coalition forces would remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Addressing a press conference alongwith UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Lisbon after the meeting, Rasmussen said that the process of giving the control of Afghanistan to the Afghan security forces has been initiated. He also said that the Afghan forces would start leading the security operations by next year and would take complete control of their country by 2014. Rasmussen told the media that Taliban should not dream of regaining power in Afghanistan as the coalition forces would remain inside Afghanistan even after 2014. More or less 130,000 ISAF personnel are present in Afghanistan right now and of them most belong to the USA.
