Karzai and NATO agree on a four year transition plan for handover of security. Source: NATO
Here in Lisbon at the 2010 NATO summit, President Karzai and NATO leaders today agreed a transition plan that will transfer security responsibility to Afghan security forces (ANSF). 4,000 miles away, the Afghan public are doubtful that the ANSF will actually be ready to assume this responsibility by 2014.
In a survey published yesterday by the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS), 61% of respondents in Helmand and Kandahar believe the ANSF will be unable to provide post-transition security. The survey interviewed 1500 Afghans in southern and northern Afghanistan, and reports that 56% believe Afghan police are helping the Taliban and 25% believe that police end up joining the Taliban.
The transition isn’t the only area where there appears to be a disconnect between the views of Western capitals and the Afghan public. With only 8% of respondents aware of 9/11, the event which led to the NATO operation in Afghanistan, most don’t understand why NATO is in Afghanistan and how it might offer a better future than the Taliban. With 55% opposing military operations against the Taliban in their area, the “hearts and minds” aim of General Petraeus’ population-focussed counter-insurgency strategy clearly has a long way to go.
The Afghan transition agreement follows yesterday’s approval of the 11 page Strategic Concept, which resolved to maintain a nuclear deterrent and turn alliance activities towards new threats to NATO members. Leaders also agreed to develop a $270m ‘protective umbrella’ missile system to defend NATO members against potential ballistic missile attacks from countries such as Iran, Syria and North Korea. *Breaking* – The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has accepted the offer to cooperate on the missile defence project – “for the first time, the two sides will be cooperating in defending themselves” – NATO S-G Rasmussen.
