Afghan President Hamid Karzai has so far refused to sign the security agreement that could allow some 10,000 US troops and 6,000 troops from allied nations to stay in Afghanistan after the end of this year, largely to help train Afghan forces.
He has said he wants to wait until after the country elects his successor in a planned April 5 presidential election but if the agreement doesn't get signed, all international troops could leave by the end of 2014 in a so-called "zero option."
Asked whether Afghan forces will be ready to take lone security responsibility at the end of this year, Breedlove said: "with 11 more months of training we'll be able to address many of their continuing challenges but no, there will be more challenges post-'14 and that is the raison d'etre for the Resolute Support mission."
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"I have not used the term zero option, I think I have explicitly stressed that it's not an option, but that it might be an unfortunate outcome," he told a group of reporters.
He said he was "confident" the security agreement would be signed though likely by Karzai's successor and not by Karzai himself but said if it wasn't, it could create serious problems for Afghanistan.
"While we are confident the Afghan security forces will be able to take full responsibility by the end of 2014, we also believe that they need continued training advice and assistance," he said.