Taliban attacks will not stop the West's plan to gradually hand over security to Afghanistan's army and police, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday, DPA reported.
Rasmussen was speaking after insurgents claimed responsibility for a series of explosions and gunshots that were heard in the Afghan capital of Kabul, near the United States embassy and headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"We are witnessing that the Taliban try to test transition, but they can't stop it. Transition is on track and it will continue," Rasmussen said at a press conference in Brussels with Latvian President Andris Berzins.
NATO and US troop plan to complete their strategy of handing over responsibility to the Afghans by the end of 2014.
"The Afghan forces are already in the lead in seven provinces and districts, home to one-quarter of the Afghan population. I expect the next step of transition to be announced soon and I expect it to be just as significant," Rasmussen said.