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Nato leaders meeting in Chicago have endorsed plans to hand over combat command to Afghan forces by mid-2013.
They confirmed Nato's combat troops would be withdrawn by the end of 2014, with only training units remaining.
But US President Barack Obama pledged that: "As Afghans stand up, they will not stand alone."
Nato also said it was optimistic Pakistan would reopen supply routes that were closed following a US drone strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The two-day meeting brought together leaders from more than 50 nations, including 28 Nato countries, as well as Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Nato's summit statement stressed that the transition to Afghan control was "irreversible" and that no combat mission would remain after the end of 2014, when 130,000 Nato-led troops are scheduled to have left.
However, Mr Obama issued a pledge to stand by the Afghan people.
When the Obama administration was first getting to grips with the complexities of war in Afghanistan you'd hear people say the strategy should be called, not "Af-Pak" but "Pak-Af".
They had been persuaded that the key to the whole situation lay in Pakistan. That it was the new real safe haven for the militants, who'd been driven out of Afghanistan.
You don't hear that so much these days. Not because it is any less true. But because the relationship, always fraught, has got much worse.
Pakistan, a country with a fiercely Islamic population alongside secular traditions, obsessed with India, does not make for a docile ally. Americans insist the current difficulties are on their way to being solved, sometime, soon. But in Chicago the two countries remain best of "frenemies".
He said Nato would continue to "advise and assist Afghan forces as they grow stronger".
But he added: "The Afghan forces will never be prepared if they don't start taking responsibility."
Mr Obama said there would "never be an optimum point where we can say this is all done - it's a process and sometimes a messy process".
But he said: "The coalition is committed to the plan to bringing the war in Afghanistan to a responsible end."
Although the timetable had risks, Mr Obama said he believed it was "sound and responsible".
Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen touched on the question of the funding of Afghan security forces post-2014, denying that the summit was intended to be a pledging conference.
He said he was pleased a number of countries had made new pledges and denied there was any shortfall in funds.
Mr Rasmussen said: "We are on the right track to reaching the goal of around $4bn a year for financing of Afghan security forces - it's a positive story."
However, the question of the Pakistani supply route has cast a shadow over the summit.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the situation was "frustrating" and that although he was confident the supply routes would be reopened, it was "not going to happen today".
Mr Rasmussen denied that Mr Zardari had been invited to the summit to seal a deal on reopening the supply routes, saying: "We did not expect an agreement on Pakistan transit routes to be reached at this summit."
Mr Obama confirmed this, saying: "We didn't anticipate the supply issue would be resolved but we are making diligent progress."
Mr Rasmussen said the closure had so far not had a major impact on Nato operations but would constitute a logistical challenge when the draw-down of troops began.
He added: "We would like to see the reopening of the routes as soon as possible... the ones through Pakistan are of great importance and I would expect a reopening of the transit routes in the very near future."
Mr Zardari was quoted as saying that his government was in favour of reaching a deal with Nato on the supply routes.
Mr Obama, who said he had only had a brief discussion with Mr Zardari, admitted there had been tension with Pakistan "over the past several months".
He said he did not want to paper over those cracks, but insisted the problems were being worked through.
The supply route was closed in November after the US drone attack.
Mr Rasmussen said the Chicago summit had been "highly successful" in "renewing the unbreakable bond between North America and Europe".
He said: "Nato is fit to face the future, no matter what the future brings."
Mr Cameron said that Nato had agreed it needed a "new mindset".
He said: "Nato should look outwards, reassert its relevance and be ready to tackle threats that may lay outside its territories" but which continue to be a risk to its members.
Mr Cameron also addressed the Taliban, saying: "The message to the insurgency is equally clear: You can't win on the battlefield; stop fighting and start talking."
More than 10 years after the US toppled the Taliban regime, violence is continuing unabated in Afghanistan.
According to UN figures, the number of deaths reached a record 3,031 in 2011 - the great majority caused by militants.
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