Leader of 28 states, members of NATO, have agreed on a strategy to transfer leadership for the fight against the Taliban to Afghan forces by the end of 2014, the BBC reports.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai signed a long-term security partnership with NATO at the second day of the summit in Lisbon.

Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said that the Taliban would not be allowed simply to wait for foreign forces to leave because NATO would remain committed for "as long as it takes."

"One thing must be very clear - NATO is in this for the long term. We will not transition until our Afghan partners are ready. We will stay after transition in a supporting role," he said.

Karzai said the decision to transfer military control would give every Afghan a stake in the future of their country.

He hoped that in future "Afghanistan will be [a country] contributing to world security and economy rather than one that will be a burden," the BBC reports.

However, US officials were quoted saying that Washington had not yet taken a decision on ending combat by the end of 2014.

"The issue of changing the combat mission is an independent national decision which will be made by all 28 nations of NATO. In the case of the United States, we simply have not taken that decision yet," the official said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has some 130,000 soldiers (including from Bulgaria) based in Afghanistan, most of them from the US.

Under the plan there would still be a role for ISAF troops in the country in 2015 and onwards, but that would largely be in training Afghan forces.

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