Brussels:
NATO insisted on Wednesday that there was no move towards a speedier withdrawal from Afghanistan despite recent setbacks, including deadly insider attacks, as the alliance prepared for its post-2014 role.
As Washington named a new commander in Afghanistan, NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the pullout of combat forces by 2014 was on course and that the process would see regular troop drawdowns and redeployments.
"These should not be seen as a rush for the exit," Mr Rasmussen told a press conference at the end of a two-day NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels.
Any such reading was a "misinterpretation," he said, with such changes the logical consequence of the handover to Afghan forces.
The transition to 2014 was proving a success, with Taliban attacks down in areas now controlled by government forces and home to some 80 per cent of the Afghan population, he said.
But among the setbacks which have grabbed headlines in recent months, he noted, have been a spate of so-called "green-on-blue" insider attacks in which renegade local troops have killed more than 50 of their unsuspecting NATO comrades.
The attacks posed a real challenge but "will not work... will not change our strategy," Mr Rasmussen said, amid widespread concern the whole NATO effort in Afghanistan could be compromised as a result.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told NATO ministers that countering such attacks was a key element to ensure success in Afghanistan after almost 11 years of war.
"Whatever motivates these attacks, the enemy intends to use them to undermine mutual trust and cohesion, driving a wedge between us and our Afghan partners.
"We can only deny the enemy its objective by countering these attacks with all of our strength," Mr Panetta said, outlining a series of measures including enhanced training, and greater vigilance and intelligence efforts.
Mr Panetta, who earlier this week voiced frustration with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said with coalition casualties down and local forces of now some 350,000 troops taking on more of the security burden, NATO had "made significant progress".
Mr Panetta began his address with a reminder that the Afghan war had begun almost exactly 11 years ago in response to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.
Mr Rasmussen said ministers agreed NATO could now begin planning plan for its post-2014 role of training and assistance, which he stressed would "not be a combat mission."