* Rasmussen expects agreement at November Lisbon summit
* Target for transition has already been delayed
By David Brunnstrom
BRUSSELS, Oct 11 (Reuters) - NATO allies are expected to endorse a plan next month to start transferring security responsibility in Afghanistan to Afghan forces at the start of next year or by July at the latest, the head of NATO said on Monday.
Alliance Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he expected the NATO summit in Lisbon would also endorse Afghan President Hamid Karzai's aim for Afghan forces to take responsibility for security all over the country by 2014.
Rasmussen stressed, however, that the timing would depend on how the battle against Taliban insurgents was faring and the readiness of Afghan forces.
"I would expect an announcement at the summit in Lisbon that transition to lead Afghan responsibility is about to start at the beginning of 2011; at the latest by July 2011," he told a news conference.
"We will work on the basis of that road map. Obviously the whole transition process must be based on conditions," he said, emphasising the need to boost NATO's effort to train the size of the Afghan police and army to 300,000 personnel by October next year.
"Provided we make progress as regards security, I find this road map realistic," he said.
Rasmussen said last December that a big increase in troop numbers announced that month by U.S. President Barack Obama should allow the start of the handover of security responsibility in up to 15 parts of the country by the end of this year, but later altered the target to 2011.
The head of NATO's training mission warned last month that NATO would not meet the targets unless allies provided hundreds more specialist instructors.
Lieutenant-General William Caldwell said attrition in the Afghan army and police, including from desertion and casualties, meant 133,000 more recruits were needed to increase the total number of personnel by 50,000, and hit the target.
With Western casualties at their highest level since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001, NATO states are under pressure from domestic opinion to bring troops home.
Obama ordered 30,000 more troops for Afghanistan in December but also announced they would start coming home in July 2011 -- a message to Kabul to ramp up its security forces before a handover.
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, said last month he had completed a draft plan to start reducing NATO forces in parts of Afghanistan next year, but cautioned that the transition process would be slow.
(reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Rex Merrifield and Ralph Boulton)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
