Nato yesterday insisted there was no move towards a speedier withdrawal from Afghanistan despite recent setbacks, including deadly insider attacks, as the alliance prepared for its post-2014 role.
As Washington named a new commander in Afghanistan, Nato head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the pullout of combat forces by 2014 was on course and that the process would see regular troop drawdowns and redeployments.
"These should not be seen as a rush for the exit," Rasmussen told a press conference at the end of a two-day Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels.
Any such reading was a "misinterpretation," he said, with such changes the logical consequence of the handover to Afghan forces.
The transition to 2014 was proving a success, with Taliban attacks down in areas now controlled by government forces and home to some 80 percent of the Afghan population, he said.
But among the setbacks which have grabbed headlines in recent months, he noted, have been a spate of so-called "green-on-blue" insider attacks in which renegade local troops have killed more than 50 of their unsuspecting Nato comrades.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta yesterday sought to reassure Nato allies effective action was being taken to stop "insider" attacks on their soldiers.
He said the coalition's response to attacks by Taliban insurgents disguised as Afghan policemen or soldiers and its efforts to improve its partnership with Afghan security forces would be critical to the success of the war with the Taliban.
Rasmussen said ministers agreed Nato could now begin planning plan for its post-2014 role of training and assistance, which he stressed would "not be a combat mission."
To oversee the transition, Panetta announced the nomination of deputy US Marine Corps commander Joseph Dunford to succeed General John Allen as head of Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Allen in turn will take over as Nato supreme commander, replacing Admiral James Stavridis to a post traditionally held by a US officer. Both nominations are subject to confirmation by the US Senate.