Afghanistan should not be allowed to become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. This is the most stated goal pursued by the international community in Afghanistan. This is echoed in new statement by Leon Panetta, the US defense secretary. Politicians and political actors in the country believe that the only way to prevent from the decline of Afghanistan into a safe haven for the terrorists is to consolidate the fledgling democracy in the country.

International forces are supposed to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan by the year 2014. But as a result of the recent incidents of killings by a NATO soldier as well as the preceding incident of Quran burning, President Hamid Karzai called for exit of foreign forces up to 2013.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that the alliance would be sticking to the timeline agreed at the Lisbon summit in November 2010. At a news conference he said, "There is nothing new in all this but maybe it is necessary to clarify these timelines because sometimes they are mixed up in a way that creates some confusion.

We will stick to the Lisbon roadmap and complete transition by the end of 2014." Panetta has also said that Afghanistan should not be allowed to become a harbor for terrorists and Al-Qaeda. This is a sublime goal that needs to be achieved. There are around 130,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including 90,000 US troops deployed across the country to fight insurgents and terrorist elements that cross the border from the neighboring country.

It should be said that this is just the military aspect of the mission. Afghanistan is supposed to hold elections in 2014 to continue to maintain democratic principles and institutions. International community may be able to keep the Taliban and other insurgents at bay until 2014 but a real peace will remain elusive if political processes are not overhauled and reformed.

In addition, international community may provide funding for another round of elections to be held in Afghanistan but to restore public confidence in the political institutions and electoral processes and pave the way for a permanent stability in the country, only provision of funding for the elections themselves is not enough and there is a need for changing the electoral processes.

Military pressure is essential to tackle the brutal insurgency but political support for political reforms in order to turn the current political system and power structures into functioning ones is the only way to envision a stable Afghanistan free from violence and infiltration of terrorist groups. This is an urgent need that has to be responded to attain the goal.