In a significant policy shift, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed to send a group of military officers to Pakistan for training. Karzai's national security adviser, Rangin Dadfar Spanta said, an agreement has been worked out and a limited number of officers would be sent for training. The new deal comes on the heels of recent high-level contacts between the two countries. The Washington Post reports that though the number of Afghan officers is said to be between a handful and a few dozen, but it has enormous symbolic importance as the first tangible outcome of talks between Karzai and Pakistan's military and intelligence chiefs that began in May. Lieutenant General William B Caldwell IV, head of the NATO training command in Afghanistan said that Afghanistan is a sovereign nation and can make bilateral agreements with other nations to provide training. US has spent 27 billion US dollars to train and equip Afghan security forces since 2002 and President Obama's war strategy calls for doubling the strength of both the army and police force by 2011 to facilitate the gradual withdrawal of the US troops. The surprise development comes after reports that top Pakistan army brass including Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI Chief Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha recently made a number of visits to Kabul and had meetings with President Karzai. More than 300 Afghan army officers are currently being trained under bilateral agreements in other countries, including Turkey and India.