NATO and United States troops fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan have made "hard fought progress" over the course of 2010, the military alliance's chief said Thursday, while welcoming the annual US review of its Afghan strategy, dpa reported.
"In 2011, all NATO Allies and their partners in (the International Security Assistance Force) will continue to work together to make Afghanistan - and our own nations - safer," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.
Rasmussen said the US review of its policy towards Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan demonstrated that "our strategy is sound and we have in place the necessary resources to accomplish it."
NATO will "continue to train Afghan forces" in line with the objective of fully handing over security matters to local forces "by the end of 2014," Rasmussen confirmed.
But he added that international troops will stay in a supporting role.
"Our commitment to Afghanistan will continue well beyond 2014. NATO will also remain engaged with Pakistan, which is playing a critical role in bringing stability to the region," he stressed.
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