Pentagon: 2014 Handover a Goal, Not a Deadline

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says its 2014 date for handing Afghan forces responsibility for security in their country is a target, not a deadline.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell (moh-REHL') says Afghans may not be able to control all of their own territory by the end of 2014. And he says there may be a need to leave some U.S. forces in the country after that to buttress the Afghans.

President Barack Obama and other NATO leaders are expected to endorse the 2014 timeline at a summit this weekend.

U.S. officials have never promised that the war would be over by 2015. But the goal of the security transfer indicates that Obama thinks most U.S. forces could come home by then.