US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday he will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss a formal declaration ending combat operations by US forces in Afghanistan and shifting their role to promoting stability in most parts of the country.
While Rumsfeld said only that he planned to discuss the declaration with Karzai, a Bush administration statement issued late Friday said the declaration would be announced when the two leaders meet. Karzai and Rumsfeld "will jointly announce that the United States, in coordination with the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan and our coalition partners, is ready to advance to a new phase and transition from combat operations to stability operations in Afghanistan," the statement said.
"A key component of this phase is the deployment of Provincial Reconstruction Teams throughout the country in key urban areas." As many as eight such teams, comprising US and allied military and civilian authorities, are to be established in cities across Afghanistan to improve living conditions for Afghans and show that Karzai's central government is extending its authority and assistance to outlying provinces.
Three teams already have begun operations in Kunduz, Bamian and Gardez. "We believe the cooperation we're engaged in with President Karzai and his government, with respect to the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, is the kind of thing that will demonstrate to the people of Afghanistan that supporting the central government is a good thing, it benefits them, and that that is the path of the future," Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him to Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.
Despite the plan to formally declare combat operations over, US troops in Afghanistan are continuing to battle gunmen believed to be remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
AFP