NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has arrived in Afghanistan to meet President Hamid Karzai and other members of the Afghan government.
He will also meet the Commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), General John R. Allen, and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative, Ambassador Simon Gass, the Alliance said in a press release on Thursday.
He visits the war-torn country a week after claiming that ISAF recorded the longest sustained downward trend in enemy-initiated attacks in Afghanistan since May last year.
"Despite the challenges, we can see progress on the ground," he told a monthly press briefing on April 2. Enemy-initiated attacks in January and February were down by 22 percent compared to the same period last year.
Rasmussen said the Alliance would show at next month's Chicago summit solidarity in supporting Afghanistan through transition.
He said NATO was on track to complete transition of security responsibility to Afghan forces by the end of 2014 as agreed at the Lisbon summit.
NATO began gradual handing over of security responsibilities to the Afghan forces in July last year.
Over the last nine months, Afghan forces have been gradually taking the lead for security in areas where half the Afghan population lives. The NATO chief expects more provinces and districts to follow soon. At the same time, ISAF has gradually started moving into a supporting role. But he made it clear that the forces "remain ready and able to conduct combat operations whenever and wherever needed."
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