Nato defence ministers looked to the future in Afghanistan on Wednesday, planning for their mission after combat forces are withdrawn in 2014 in the knowledge that the transition is fraught with danger.
Nato head Anders Fogh Rasmussen stressed that the post-2014 role of training and assistance was “not a combat mission”, the aim being to ensure the stable future that the allies and Afghans both wanted for the country.
As planning now gets underway, Nato forces will be drawn down and redeployed, a normal process which is not about “speeding up” the withdrawal, Rasmussen said.
The transition has come under close scrutiny this year as the handover of security to Afghan forces has seen a spate of “insider attacks” – renegade local troops killing more than 50 of their unsuspecting Nato comrades.
Rasmussen has recognised the seriousness of the problem and insists Nato will stay the course but one diplomatic source told reporters that such attacks stoked concerns about the overall mission.
Nato members have “concerns about the safety of their own soldiers but also about the potential impact on the overall effort,” the source said.