The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hungarian Ministry of Defence welcome President Hamid Karzai’s announcement on the start of the first phase for transition to Afghan security lead scheduled to begin in July 2011 in selected areas of the country.

The decision marks a new phase in the stabilization of Afghanistan, which is vital to the successful implementation of the international strategy, and to maintaining the momentum the key international stakeholders and the Afghan authorities have created together in the past months. It demonstrates the sustained commitment of the Afghan Government to living up to its pledges and to playing its role to put the Transition process on track.

While President Karzai’s recent announcement is an important step forward, we should bear in mind that Transition should remain an irreversible, comprehensive and gradual process based on conditions on the ground.

Enabling the Afghan Security Forces to assume the security responsibilities is crucial to ensuring the sustainability of transition to full Afghan leadership and ownership by the end of 2014.

Hungary, for its part, remains fully committed to supporting the implementation of the Transition strategy and aims at providing efficient contribution to a successful and irreversible Transition through the efforts of Hungarian military personnel and civilian experts.

(kormany.hu)