The 12-page document, rubber-stamped by officials at last week's NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, in a chart lists the progress the alliance wants to make over the next three to five years in the violence-struck country. Germany's Der Spiegel magazine obtained a copy of the document and published its key contents in its latest issue, which hit the news stands Monday.

Until 2011, the article said, NATO wants Afghanistan's army to be ready to control without foreign help "even areas in the country's hard-fought southern provinces." It also revealed that the units directly responsible to Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai are to take over military responsibility for Kabul and its vicinity later this year.

The benchmarks regarding Afghanistan's judicial system and the fight against the drug business are more vague, Der Spiegel said.

NATO officials want to keep the document secret to prevent discussions over an exit strategy, or to come under fire if the benchmarks aren't met, Der Spiegel said.

The alliance has some 47,000 troops in Afghanistan doing reconstruction and battling the Taliban.