After Obama and Karzai agreed on speeding up the withdrawal pace of US troops from Afghanistan, the eagerness of other NATO countries to do the same has apparently increased. US President Barack Obama at a press conference with President Hamid Karzai on January 11 in Washington announced that he is accelerating the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, with all the American forces moving this spring into a largely training and advisory role and Afghan troops taking the lead throughout the country in fighting the Taliban-led insurgency.

Only a few days after Obama’s announcement on acceleration of US troops withdrawal process, the Australian Defense Minister, Stephen Smith said on Tuesday, January 15, that Australian troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan earlier than expected and the transition will be completed in the volatile Uruzgan province of Afghanistan as soon as the end of this year. Previously, the timetable for a formal transition extended to the first quarter of 2014. Same kind of announcement is expected from other US allies in the near future.

It is feared that Afghanistan’s long-term stability and protecting achievements and sacrifices made over the last eleven years would attract little attention at a time when the NATO countries might race for withdrawing their troops earlier from Afghanistan. If such a trend occurs, its beneficiaries will be the Taliban and other insurgent groups who are waiting for and insisting on complete withdrawal for foreign forces from Afghanistan.

At the same time, Defense Minister, Bismillah Muhammadi says that he is optimistic that the US will not abandon Afghanistan when the planned withdrawal of international troops completes in 2014. One can understand from view expressed by Muhammadi that post-2014 presence of the US is pivotal for peace and democracy in Afghanistan and leaving Afghanistan alone might have dreadful outcomes. But he is only optimistic and not fully sure. Now, one can judge how uncertainty about Afghanistan’s future is increasing concerns among common Afghan people.

The time between now and the end of 2014 is short and it is said that it is difficult for ANSF to become fully prepared in this short time to defend Afghanistan one their own against growing militancy. They need longer period of time to become a competent force. Now that NATO countries are mulling to pull out their forces sooner than planned, worries about Afghanistan’s future might become manifold. Such eagerness of West may result in abrupt withdrawal of their forces which will be catastrophic for peace and economic stability of Afghanistan.