NATO seals Afghan handover plan

Source: Agence France-Presse

TALLINN -- NATO foreign ministers sealed Friday a plan for international troops and civilian staff in Afghanistan to hand over responsibility to the local military and government.

In talks in Tallinn, Estonia, the ministers endorsed guidelines for passing control to the Afghans, as NATO and U.S.-led troops drive Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters out of provinces across the insurgency-hit country.

"We agreed the approach we will take to transition. We set out a process, the conditions that will have to be met, and what we will do to make those conditions happen," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

"Where it occurs, transition must not just be sustainable but irreversible," he told reporters after the meeting.

But he underlined: "It will not be a run for the exit."

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2942450

Sort of a dignified run for the exit, if it can be managed.