NATO troops yesterday formally assumed the command of Afghanistan's six southern provinces from the US-led coalition forces, throwing the military alliance into what could be the toughest battle mission in its 57-year history. 

 

At the ceremony held to mark the command shift, Lieutenant General David Richards, top commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said NATO nations would significantly increase the number of troops available in southern Afghanistan after July 31.

 

"We will not leave until the Afghan people tell us that our job is complete. We recognize that much remains to be done," he added.

 

Afghan Defense Minister Abdur Rahim Wardak, US Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, the commander of coalition forces, and another Senior US officer Benjamin Freakley attended the one-hour ceremony, which started at about 1:40 PM (0910 GMT) in the Kandahar military base.

 

Eikenberry said at the ceremony that as "an essential member of NATO," the US long-term commitment and mission in Afghanistan remain unchanged.

 

At a press conference after the ceremony, Richards called on the commander of the Taliban to give up their fight against ISAF made up of 37-nation troops, for it is impossible for them to win.

 

The command shift has pushed the 26-nation military alliance into one of its most ambitious missions and the seemingly toughest combat job in its history, as Taliban-linked rising violence has ravaged southern Afghanistan this year.

 

Over 70 foreign troops have been killed in the war-weary country, with most deaths occurring in its southern region, the traditional stronghold of the Taliban.

 

However, it is believed that both NATO and the US aim at benefiting from the command shift.

 

NATO wants to display its military and political strength through carrying out a more ambitious Afghan mission, while the US wants to reduce the high pressure of its military, which has bogged down in the post-war volatile Iraq.

 

Over 11,000 coalition and Afghan forces have launched Mountain Thrust operation since mid-May in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, and Uruzgan, the stronghold of Taliban militants, to wipe out enemies there. The operation closed down after yesterday's command transfer.

 

More than 700 Taliban extremists have been killed in the operation, according to coalition forces.

 

ISAF had deployed about 10,000 troops from 37 nations in the 13 provinces of northern and western Afghanistan and Kabul, the capital of the war-weary country, to keep security there.

 

ISAF would have about 18,000 forces in Afghanistan after July 31 and own over 21,000 after its expansion into the east later this year, as most coalition forces would be incorporated into it.

 

However, the US military will reserve some independent special forces to hunt down chiefs of the Taliban and al-Qaida.

 

NATO first took the command of the UN-mandated ISAF in Afghanistan in the alliance's first mission outside the Euro-Atlantic area in August 2003, nearly two years after the US-led Afghan war to topple Taliban regime in 2001. Its presence was initially limited to Kabul.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2006)