(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Hamid Karzai also called for a transition of the nation's security from NATO control to the Afghan government in 2013 rather than the previous deadline of 2014, after meeting visiting US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.
That plan had been floated by Panetta ahead of a NATO meeting in Brussels last month, but the US-led coalition insists that it will only withdraw its combat troops by the end of 2014.
Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi quoted the president as telling Panetta: "We're ready to take over all security responsibilities now," adding: "We'd prefer that the process be completed in 2013, not 2014."
Karzai then told Panetta that US-led international forces should "be withdrawn from villages and relocated in their bases", his office said in a statement.
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