AKIPRESS.COM - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday welcomed U.S. plans for a complete withdrawal of American troops in 2016, declaring that national security forces were prepared to take full control over the country and inviting the Taliban to seize a "historic opportunity" for peace.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that American troops will decrease to 9,800 next year from just under 33,000 currently, before a complete withdrawal by the end of 2016. Mr. Karzai, whose term expires this summer, said Taliban demands for an end of foreign occupation were met by Mr. Obama's pledge, the Wall Street Journal said.

The Taliban, however, dismissed Mr. Karzai's appeal, demanding an immediate U.S. withdrawal and pledging to continue the war. The Americans "are wasting their time and creating more problems for their own people and American [forces] will also lose," the Taliban said in a statement Wednesday.

The Taliban's determination to keep up the fight is worrying Western officials in Kabul, as the summer fighting season,– when the insurgency usually intensifies,–coincides this year with the June 14 runoff for presidential elections that would pick a successor to Mr. Karzai. The runoff, which Mr. Karzai cannot contest, will mark the first democratic transition of power in Afghan history.

Afghan forces have increasingly taken charge for their country's security, and were in the forefront of efforts to secure the first round of Afghanistan's elections in April. The elections proceeded without major incidents but occurred before the traditional start of the summer fighting season.

The commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, was upbeat about the gradual withdrawal plans at a news conference Wednesday, saying that the timetable outlined by Mr. Obama will provide "confidence [for Afghans] to complete their political transition."

Gen. Dunford said Afghan forces were ready to take the lead for the security of their country while a strong "diplomatic and military-to-military" relationship between the U.S. and Afghanistan will continue beyond 2016.

Not everyone in Kabul shared that optimism.

"If over a hundred thousand [international] troops could not defeat the Taliban during the last decade, how can these 10,000 troops defeat them?" questioned Atiqullah Amarkhel, a retired Afghan Air Force general. "America knows best, if it leaves Afghanistan it will become a safe haven for terrorist groups."