Afghanistan Handover Complete 'Within Weeks'

Security in Afghanistan, which has been in the hands of international troops for 12 years, will be completely handed over to Afghan forces in the next few weeks, according to the most senior British Officer in the country.

Lieutenant General Nick Carter, who is deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) based in Kabul, says the move to 'Tranche 5', the final phase of the transition from international to Afghan control, is likely to be announced next month.

Most of the country is already in what is known at Tranche 4, which means 80% of the military operations against the Taliban are being conducted by Afghan forces, with foreign troops, including 8,000 British soldiers as back up.

Soon, all combat operations against the insurgency will be carried out by indigenous units, but it does not mean the end of the international war effort in Afghanistan.

Isaf forces will continue training and support operations, including air-support and medevac capabilities until the end of 2014.

General Carter said: "It is absolutely the case that Afghans will be ready to assume national security by Tranche 5."

A year ago, the Isaf assessment of the Afghan forces was that only one of their 25 brigades was capable of operating independent of foreign support, but now that assessment is that 20 brigades are ready.

General Carter says international forces will operate a "principle of reversibility" as Afghanistan moves into the traditional summer fighting season, maintaining sufficient troop numbers to reinforce the Afghans if they need it.

Eager to counter allegations that the draw-down of international troops by 2014 is a "cut and run" exercise, General Carter said the focus now was to convince Afghans they will not be abandoned by the rest of the world when the soldiers finally go home.

Brigadier Bob Bruce, who is just back from Helmand having commanded the last six-month British tour with Four Mechanised Brigade in the south, said when he arrived in Afghanistan last autumn there were 37 forward operating bases manned by UK troops.

Now that number is down to just 12, he said, adding the other had all been handed over to Afghans.

Brigadier Bruce said he is "cautiously optimistic" for the future.

He added: "The insurgency has not been defeated and not gone away, it's still ruthless and still effective."

The real threats to British soldiers now they have pulled back from full-scale combat operations are "insider attacks", where Afghan troops turn their weapons on their international mentors.

Brigadier Bruce believes the risk of these attacks is reducing, but cautions that risk can "never be reduced to zero".

Despite the upbeat messages from British forces, there is still much work to be done in Afghanistan.

This year, the United Nations predicts a record poppy crop, fuelling the international drugs trade.

Hundreds of Afghan soldiers and police are killed or injured every month fighting the Taliban, many times more than the rate of casualties for international forces since they moved into Afghanistan in late 2001.