KABUL - NATO's chief said that it is good to give Afghanistan's defense "an Afghan face" by handing over the security responsibilities to the Afghan forces, pointing out it also cost less money.
Secretary General Andres Fogh Rasmussen said it was less expensive to finance Afghan security forces than to deploy international forces in Afghanistan, in an interview with Tolo news.
He stressed that the international community has already committed to financing the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF)beyond 2014.
"The Chicago summit will not be a pledging conference, but the whole international community has already committed itself to financing the Afghan security force also beyond 2014 when the Afghans are taking full responsibility for security," he said.
"Of course the NATO allies and ISAF partners will take on their fair share of the total bill, because it's good to give defense of Afghanistan an Afghan face by handing over responsibilities for the security to the Afghans, and economically it's indeed less expensive to finance ANSF than to deploy international troops."
When asked about NATO's role in Afghanistan after 2014, he replied that NATO will stay committed and will continue its training and support mission to the Afghan security forces.
"We will stay committed also beyond 2014. First of all, we will continue the training mission, we will continue to help the ANSF ensure they maintain the capability to take full responsibility for the security," Rasmussen replied.
"The international community has committed itself to financing the Afghan security forces. So we will hand over the responsibility to the Afghan security forces, but we will stay committed," he added.
Rasmussen came to Afghanistan and visited an Afghan special force training camp near Kabul on Thursday.
He said that Afghan Special Forces were among the best in the world.
He met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the afternoon and both appeared in a joint press briefing, saying plans are on track to meet the transition deadline of 2014. (Tolo News)