Karzai wants Afghanistan security handover to begin this year

By the end of his five-year term in 2014, Karzai said, "conditions permitting ... Afghan forces will have full responsibility for security throughout the country, with international forces continuing to serve in the capacity of providing backup and assistance."

Speaking at the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Karzai said he planned to build up the army and the national police to some 300,000 by 2012.

He also pledged to tackle corruption, calling it a key focus of his second term in office. "We are currently reviewing the structure and capacities of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption and will make it into a stronger, more responsive organization to lead our fight against corruption," he said.

"In reflecting about the war in Afghanistan today, we see tremendous success in many spheres but overshadowed by failure in one major field: that of defeating terrorism and safeguarding the security of Afghanistan, the region and the world at large," Karzai said. "... The public in Afghanistan as well as in many of your countries are rightfully asking where this effort has led to. They would like to see progress in the war and get a sense of when will, ultimately, the Afghan people themselves take charge of their own security.

"Of course, let it be clear to all that we Afghans wish to see the day sooner rather than later when we are able to defend our borders, [our] villages and towns, on our own, and when young men and women from other countries do not have to shed blood on our soil for our security."

He described the conflict in his country as "a war of necessity."