The civilian death toll declines in Afghanistan.<br/> <br />The United Nations is reporting that after five years of mounting civilian causalities, the death tolls was down 20 percent in the first four months of the year.<br/> <br />Protecting civilians is one of the prime tenets of the Afghan counterinsurgency strategy,.<br/> <br />Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson in Kabul was made available to Reuters by the Pentagon.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English)BRIGIDIER GENERAL CARSTEN JACOBSON, SAYING:<br/> <br />"We have to take every step that is possible to protest the population as this is the prime target and the prime task of the international security assistance force."<br/> <br />Following a series of recent civilian casualties blamed on NATO, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said a strategic partnership agreement signed with the United States earlier this month was at risk of becoming "meaningless" if Afghans did not feel safe.<br/> <br />Ties between Kabul and Washington have already been strained over a string of incidents involving U.S. forces this year, including the killing of Afghan villagers for which a U.S. soldier was charged and the inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran.<br/> <br />With The international Security Assistance Force hoping to handover full responsibility to Afghan forces by the end of 2014, Jacobson is confident those forces will be up for the job.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER EDITOR OF NEWS OF THE WORLD, REBEKAH BROOKS, SAYING:<br/> <br />"It really takes the civilian population to believe that there security forces can protest them and we are very confident that we can move them there within the next two and a half years."<br/> <br />On Sunday, Karzai is expected to announce the transfer of more than 200 districts to Afghan control in the third phase of a handover.<br/> <br />Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.
