US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said major combat operations in Afghanistan are at an end. He said the country had moved into a period of stabilisation and reconstruction. Mr Rumsfeld was speaking in Kabul after talks with President Hamid Karzai. \"We are at a point where we clearly have moved from major combat activity to a period of stability and stabilisation and reconstruction activities,\" Mr Rumsfeld told reporters at the end of his brief visit. But he stressed: \"There are still dangers, still pockets of resistance, in parts of the country.\" President Karzai said Afghanistan had made great progress since the country\'s former Taleban rulers were overthrown 18 months ago. But he said much more needed to be done, and that his administration lacked resources. The US still has some 10,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan following the overthrow of the Taleban. The troops have been involved in frequent encounters with suspected remnants of the Taleban and the al-Qaeda network, with four US troops killed since March. The US has said it expects its troops to remain in Afghanistan for years. Security is a constant problem for Mr Karzai\'s government. A number of his ministers have been killed and the president himself survived an assassination attempt in the southern city of Kandahar last September. (BBC)