(AFP) - NATO's leaders were in Afghanistan for talks with President Hamid Karzai and other officials to finalise the alliance's expansion into the insurgency-hit south in the coming weeks.
NATO military commander General James Jones and the alliance's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, arrived late Wednesday for a two-day visit, reports Trend.
They were to meet Karzai and top Afghan officials to hammer out details of the expansion due at the end of this month of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) into southern Afghanistan, among the areas worst hit by a Taliban insurgency.
NATO will take over from a US-led coalition that has been operating in the south for several years. A date for the transfer of authority is expected to be named in a week.
"They are here to have the final discussions needed prior to such an important moment for Afghanistan," ISAF spokesman Major Luke Knittig told AFP.
"A big objective of course is to listen to the Afghan leadership and to get their view on how things should go forward," he said.
The meetings would also likely focus on stepped-up violence linked to the Taliban, a spokesman for Karzai said.
"They will discuss the situation in Afghanistan, expansion of NATO and the reasons for the increased attacks," spokesman Siamak Hirawi said.
The visiting delegation, which includes EU special representative to Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell, will visit the southern provinces before leaving the country on Friday.