General David Petraeus hands over Afghan command

General John Allen takes over amid further violence including assassination of Karzai aide and death of three Nato troops General David Petraeus has handed over command of American and coalition forces in Afghanistan to another US general, John Allen, who will assume responsibility as Washington and others draw up exit plans from the nearly 10-year conflict. The transfer on Monday came amid further violence: an aide to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and an Afghan MP were assassinated in a Taliban-claimed attack in Kabul, while three Nato troops were killed in eastern Afghanistan. Allen said the reduction in US forces that started this month and the transition of some areas to Afghan control this week did not mean international forces were easing up in their campaign to defeat the Taliban insurgency. “It is my intention to maintain the momentum of the campaign,” the general said at the handover ceremony in Kabul. “There will be tough days ahead. I have no illusions about the challenges ahead.” US officials have heralded successes in reclaiming Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan and training Afghan security forces. But violent attacks have continued. On Monday morning, a bomb killed three international service members in eastern Afghanistan. Nato did not provide further details. Most of the troops in the east are American. At least 37 international troops have been killed so far this month in Afghanistan. Allen, who was promoted to a four-star general shortly before the handover ceremony, takes over from Petraeus, who commanded international forces in Afghanistan for one year and is retiring from the military to become the director of the CIA. The ceremony came hours after security forces in the capital killed the final attacker involved in the assassination of Karzai’s adviser Jan Mohammed Khan and a parliamentarian he was meeting in his house. The deaths were announced late on Sunday night, but fighting continued inside the house until early on Monday morning as police tried to take out the remaining assailant who had barricaded himself in. One police officer was killed, the interior ministry said. Afghan officials had originally said the attackers were wearing suicide vests but said on Monday that this was incorrect and they were armed only with guns. David Petraeus Afghanistan US military Nato United States Hamid Karzai Taliban guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 18, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.