Hamid Karzai says he is thinking about holding presidential elections a year early, in 2013.

Afghanistan’s president has said he is considering holding presidential elections a year early, in 2013, and does not want to put too much pressure on the country when NATO combat forces are due to leave in 2014.

In a news conference in Kabul, Hamid Karzai revealed he would either bring the transition forward or bring the elections forward.

Realistically, bringing forward the NATO withdrawal is not a decision Karzai can make.

Holding elections next year, however, would allow the government to make use of the protection and logistics that would be still available from NATO forces.

AL Jazeera’s Bernard Smith reports from Kabul.