NATO chief in Afghanistan for talks

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen was in Afghanistan Monday to discuss the transition of security duties from coalition troops to Afghan forces, officials said. The secretary-general was to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government officials, Khaama Press reported. An official in the Afghan presidential palace office said the two leaders would review the country's security situation, the state of the Afghan security forces and the timetable for NATO's troop withdrawal by the end of next year. Rasmussen's visit comes just days after Karzai's demand that Kabul's security be transferred from coalition forces to Afghan military units soon. In a decree issued Thursday, Karzai said he appointed a special commission that would ask the coalition to turn over control to Kabul in three months.