Afghan gov't to take over security by 2014
International donors at a Kabul conference today endorsed Afghan president Hamid Karzai's plan for Afghan forces to take over security in the country by the end of 2014. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the decision marked a "turning point" for Afghanistan.
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Clinton is in the Afghan capital for the summit, along with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, in Washington Tuesday to discuss the Afghan war and other matters with US President Barack Obama, called the plan "realistic".
"Success for me in Afghanistan is an Afghanistan which is able to control its own security and to keep it free from terrorist training camps, and that has a basic level of security - that's what success is about," Cameron told National Public Radio.
The foreign leaders in Kabul reiterated their hope that Afghan authorities would engage with the Taliban, which has been leading an insurgency for nearly nine years.
This morning, the UN chief's plane was forced to divert after rebels fired rockets at Kabul airport.
Nato Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen says its forces will stay on to provide support beyond 2014.
The conference also called for at least 50 per cent of development aid to Afghanistan to be channelled through the government's budget within two years.
Karzai is under intense international pressure to crack down on corruption and bring an end to the war that has been killing record numbers of foreign soldiers and costing billions of dollars.
The summit's closing statement said that Karzai's programme was open to insurgents "who renounce violence, have no links to international terrorist organisations, respect the constitution, and are willing to join in building a peaceful Afghanistan."
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