No timetable has been set for the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman said on Monday.
Brigadier-General Josef Blotz of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force maintained that the pullout will not be according to a fixed timetable but will be carried out based on conditions to be achieved over the next couple of years.
Blotz noted that the progress of building Afghan National Security Force would determine conditions for transfer of security control to Afghan side.
Kabul in recent months maintained that the Afghan forces will take up security responsibility of all Afghan provinces by the end of 2014. The upcoming NATO summit scheduled on November 19 and 20 in Lisbon is expected to discuss the transition of security.
Meanwhile, reports from Canada suggest that at least thousand Canadian troops could remain in Afghanistan even after combat-missions end in 2011. Bowing to international pressure, the Canadian government is likely to extend their presence in the country but limit themselves to diplomacy and military training.
The Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, on Sunday, told reporters at an international security conference in Halifax that their government is looking at the possibility of keeping a significant number of soldiers to train the Afghan law enforcement agencies. The current numbers of the Canadian troops in Afghanistan are estimated at 3,000.
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