[Quqnoos] US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates on Sunday denied that president Obama had set an exit strategy for AfghanistanSecreatry Gates said that only "handful" of US troops might leave the country in mid-2011.
Gates appeared on ABC with other senior US officials said that the president intended to fulfill its commitment to Afghanistan and the security responsibility would gradually be transferred to Afghan security forces.
Last week US president after a long-awaited announcement of revised Afghan strategy said that he would soon send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan that would bring the total of US troops in Afghanistan to nearly 100,000.
While unveiling his revised Afghan strategy, Mr. Obama said the US troops "will begin to come home" in mid-2011, not clarifying all US troops will begin to leave or the additional 30,000 he authorised.
But Mr. Gates said that significant number of US troops would remain in Afghanistan for years.
"This is a transition,'' Gates said on ABC, "We are not talking about an abrupt withdrawal.
We are talking about something that will take place over a period of time.''
The handover of the security responsibility to Afghan forces, according to Mr Gates, would start form areas where Taliban pose less threat, mostly in the north.
Earlier Afghan Ministry of Defence announced that Afghan security forces would start taking responsibility from foreign forces within two years and the process would be completed in four years.