One of the controversial aspects of the strategy is the plan to have moderate Taliban reintegrated in the Afghan society, as suggested by president Hamid Karzai, who also announced the establishment of a national council for peace and conciliation. Participants welcomed the decision of NATO and of ISAF partner states to draw up, jointly with Kabul and the UN, a plan for the gradual transfer of security duties to the Afghans. The process will begin in 2010 and will take 5 years to complete. With details, RRI’s correspondent in London, Cristina Tiberian:

“The increase of Afghan forces to a total 300,000, alongside the already announced surge of Allied troops, has prompted signatories to repeatedly mention the word ‘transition’ in the outcome statement. In other words, we are talking about a transfer of security and development responsibilities to the Afghan authorities.”

The Romanian foreign minister Teodor Baconschi presented, in London, Romania’s contribution to the efforts of the international community to ensure the development, stability and security of Afghanistan. He emphasised that Romanian troops would remain in this country, with the agreement of Kabul, for as long as necessary. Baconschi announced that Romania’s contribution would be increased by 600 troops, who would join the over 1,000 Romanian soldiers already deployed in Afghanistan.

On the day of the meeting in London, the US Ambassador to Bucharest, Mark Gittenstein, granted the postmortem “Bronze Star” medal to two Romanian soldiers who died in Afghanistan. Since 2003, when Romania joined the NATO mission in this country, 11 Romanian servicemen have been killed. Gittenstein stated that the American people was very grateful and deeply impressed with the sacrifice of the Romanian military in Afghanistan.