MUNICH  - NATO's top leaders say Afghan security forces need further training and that makes it critical for a new agreement to be signed that allows international forces to remain after the end of this year.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has so far refused to sign the security agreement, saying he wants to wait until after the country elects his successor in April. If the agreement isn't signed, all international troops could leave by the end of 2014.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's military commander, and the alliance's civilian leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Saturday that Afghan forces needed continued training.

Fogh Rasmussen also says that without foreign troops, international funding could dry up - making it difficult for Afghanistan to pay its forces. (AP)