U.S. Gen. McNeil takes over command of NATO troops

[cal04]

U.S. Gen. Dan McNeil took over command of NATO-led troops in Afghanistan in a ceremony on Sunday.

McNeil replaced British Gen. David Richards at the helm of the 35,500-strong force at the time when the Western alliance braces for a renewed fight with the resurgent Taliban militants.

During his nine months as commander of NATO's International Stabilization and Assistance Force, Richards oversaw the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

About 4,000 people died in insurgency-related violence in 2006, according to an Associated Press count based on numbers from U.S., NATO and Afghan officials.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070204/ap_on_re_as/afghan_nato

[maddezmom]

1. Reuters: Taliban warn of bloody spring as US takes NATO reins

KABUL, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The Taliban promised a spring offensive of thousands of suicide bombers as the United States, doubling its combat troops in Afghanistan, took over command of the 33,000-strong NATO force in the country on Sunday.

As U.S. General Dan McNeill took over the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), NATO said the Taliban leader in a key southern district was killed on Sunday as part of an offensive to recapture the key town of Musa Qala from the rebels.

The Taliban warns 2007 will 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 on Saturday.
more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL137850.htm