US takes over NATO in Afghanistan, amid warnings

Kabul, Feb 4: The United States, which has just doubled its combat troops in Afghanistan, took over command of the 33,000-strong NATO force in the country today amid warnings of a bloody spring offensive by the Taliban.

The Taliban leader in a key southern district was also killed today as part of a NATO offensive to recapture the town of Musa Qala from the rebels, the alliance and residents said.

US General Dan McNeill now heads NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) after taking over from British General David Richards, who saw the force grow from just 9,000 as it expanded into the Taliban's southern heartland during his nine-month command.

Last year was the bloodiest since US-led forces ousted the Taliban government in 2001, and US and NATO leaders warn of a bloody spring offensive in what analysts say will be the decisive year in the battle for Afghanistan.

More than 4,000 people died last year and the Taliban warned this weekend they have 2,000 suicide bombers ready for what they say will be the bloodiest year yet for foreign troops.

''Two thousand and six was a year of ISAF and ANSF (Afghan security forces) success and Taliban failure,'' the charismatic Richards, in light brown desert camouflage fatigues and a black beret, said at the ceremony on a crisp Kabul winter morning.

ISAF ON OFFENSIVE

'The Taliban did not achieve a single objective.

''We have proved that NATO can and will defeat the Taliban militarily and come the spring, an ISAF offensive not a Taliban offensive, will set the conditions to defeat the insurgents again when inevitably their cynical leaders will launch young men against us to do their dirty business.'' The United States has effectively doubled its combat troops on the ground by extending the tours of duty for some soldiers by four months, which will also provide a rapid reaction force Richards long demanded but was never given.

But analysts say there are still not enough foreign soldiers to bolster the under-equipped and poorly trained Afghan army of fewer than 40,000, adding attention has been diverted by Iraq.

''From the beginning, the United States did not put sufficient forces in Afghanistan in order to prevent a counter-insurgency from re-emerging,'' security expert and professor of international relations at the Ohio Wesleyan University Sean Kay told Reuters.

''NATO continues to suffer from this -- there are simply not enough troops to carry on a successful counter-insurgency campaign in the south. As the Taliban get further entrenched, the public there gets further drawn into their grip.

''And when we don't have enough troops to accomplish the mission, those that are taking risks do not have adequate reinforcements other than heavy airpower, which when applied doesn't exactly fit into a successful hearts and minds strategy.'' President Georg W Bush is asking Congress for an extra 10.6 billion dollar over two years for the Afghan army and police and Washington has been pressing its allies for more troops and an end to restrictions on how and where their soldiers can fight.

But so far, only Britain and Poland have committed more men and women and France is pulling its special forces out.

The Taliban has warned 2007 would be ''the bloodiest year for foreign troops'', saying they have 2,000 suicide bombers ready for a spring offensive when the winter snows melt in a few months.

''We have made 80 percent preparations to fight American and foreign forces and we are about to start war,'' Mullah Hayatullah Khan, a 35-year-old black-bearded guerrilla leader told Reuters at a secret base in the east yesterday.

The Taliban seized Musa Qala in the key opium-growing province of Helmand on Thursday night, four months after British troops withdrew following a peace deal with tribal leaders to keep the insurgents out, a deal criticised by the United States.

NATO forces have launched an offensive to retake the town, killing the local Taliban chief in an air strike today.

REUTERS