“The Western timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan was drawn up at one of the largest NATO summit meetings ever held, in Lisbon [Portugal] on November 19, 2010. Heads of state of forty-nine countries agreed to a withdrawal of most of the 150,000 U.S. and NATO forces by 2014 and a transfer of responsibility to Afghan security forces.”
– Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan on the Brink, Page 15