Afghanistan's president says international troops should pull back from rural areas and villages to main bases and that Afghan troops should take the lead for countrywide security in 2013.
President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that Afghan troops are ready to take over protecting their country.
He says that the transfer of authority should happen before the current target date, which is the end of 2014. He said he told this to the U.S. Defense Secretary.
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