NATO Takes Command of Peacekeepers in Afghanistan

Following the fall of the Taliban, foreign troops have been in the Afghan capital Kabul as part of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) since January 2002. The 5,000 strong peacekeeping force has helped Afghanistan’s interim government stabilize the country as it attempts to rebuild after decades of war and conflict.

Since the ISAF’s inception, the command has rotated every six months to different nations including Britain, Turkey and a joint operation of Germany and the Netherlands. But now the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has now taken up the reins on an open-ended basis.

For NATO it will be the first time in its more than 50 year history that the organization has embarked on a mission outside of Europe, as it attempts to forge a new post-Cold War role for itself.

"It's a milestone in NATO's development representing a real break from the NATO of the past to an Alliance which is more relevant and has greater utility in the uncertain security environment of the future," said ISAF operational commander General Sir Jack Deverell in a statement.

Key German role

Although Germany is handing the helm over to NATO, a German general will remain in command of ISAF. Lieutenant General Götz Gliemeroth from NATO will relieve Norbert van Heyst who led the German-Dutch mission the past half year.

Few countries have played such an important role in contributing to ISAF as has Germany. Building on historically strong ties between the two countries, Germany has stationed around 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, the largest contingent in the multi-nation operation. That number will be reduced by 900 as NATO takes over the command in the next few weeks, but at the same time Germany has begun considering taking part in a vanguard expansion of ISAF’s mission outside of Kabul and the surrounding region.

German Defense Minister Peter Struck planned to discuss the widening of ISAF’s field of operations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai after the ceremony transferring command to NATO. Many observers expect that up to 300 German soldiers could be stationed in the northern city of Kunduz to help stabilize the region as it is rebuilt.

"There is still a lot to be done," Struck said at the ceremony according to the Reuters news agency. "Afghanistan must not lapse back into anarchy or chaos. Afghanistan must not again become the home of global terror as was the case under the rule of the Taliban."

Lawless countryside

Karzai has long pleaded with the West to increase its engagement in the country beyond the relatively safe borders of Kabul. Much of the country remains dangerously lawless and the U.S. military continues operations to hunt the remnants of the Taliban or Al Qaeda.

But those present dangers are exactly why Germany's conservative opposition is hesitant to put German forces in potentially deadly situations outside of Kabul. In June, four German soldiers died and 29 were injured after a suicide attack on a ISAF bus.

"To say already that we'll definitely send soldiers into the countryside that we aren't familiar with and don't know how we'll be received is, in my opinion, irresponsible," Christian Democrat military expert Thomas Kossendey told German ARD television on Monday.

The German parliament will have to approve any expansion of the military's mandate in Afghanistan, which could spell trouble for the government since the center-left coalition of Social Democrats and Greens only has a razor-thin majority.