NATO took command of the international security assistance Force (ISAF) under a United Nations mandate in August 2003, its first mission outside the Euro-Atlantic area. Originally confined to Kabul, since October 5, when British Lieutenant General David Richards, the current commander, took responsibility for the east, it now covers the whole country. This involved assuming control of about twelve thousand United States troops, who had been fighting the global ‘war’ on terror.
NATO in Afghanistan: Too Little...
Five years after an international force smashed the Taliban government in Afghanistan, NATO soldiers are having trouble holding their own. More troops are urgently needed, as well as a determined effort to eliminate Al Qaeda and the Taliban from neighbouring Pakistan where the control of nuclear weapons is also an issue.
