U.S. general to command NATO troops

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Gen. Dan McNeill, the highest ranking U.S. general to lead troops in Afghanistan, took command of 35,500 NATO-led soldiers on Sunday, putting an American face on the international mission after nine months of British command.\nThe transition comes after a year of sharply increased violence following the alliance's push into the Taliban's southern heartland, and military officials said privately they expect McNeill to take a harder line with militants than his predecessor, Gen. David Richards.\nRichards backed a peace deal in the southern town of Musa Qala that crumbled in his last days in command when an estimated 200 Taliban fighters overran the town on Thursday. NATO said a targeted airstrike Sunday killed a key Taliban leader causing the upheaval.\nOne American military officer who labeled McNeill a "warfighter to the bone" said his arrival likely signals the end of such deals, saying they would go under "much greater scrutiny." The official asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.\nA senior Afghan military official, meanwhile, said the Defense Ministry expected McNeill to implement a policy of "strong military action." Other American officials said they expected a stronger approach under McNeill without specifying what that would be.\nThe appointment of McNeill, one of only 11 four-star generals in the Army, raises the profile of the American mission here two weeks after the Defense Department extended the tour of 3,200 10th Mountain Division soldiers.\nThere are now 26,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the highest number ever. About 14,000 American forces fall under the command of NATO's International Security Assistance Force; 12,000 troops focused on training Afghan forces and special operations fall under the U.S.-led coalition.\nBy comparison, there were only about 9,500 troops in Afghanistan in 2002, the year after the Taliban's ouster.\nCol. Tom Collins, an ISAF spokesman, said McNeill's arrival and the increased troop levels underscored the American commitment.\n"Last year was a very tough year in Afghanistan and the enemy was able to make some gains in the south," Collins said. "We have a lot of work that still needs to be done. ... It's important we get more forces here. The United States has stepped up."\nMcNeill takes command after a bloody 2006 in which insurgents launched a record number of suicide and roadside bombs. About 4,000 people died in insurgency-related violence last year, according to an Associated Press count based on numbers from U.S., NATO and Afghan officials.\nMcNeill -- a veteran of five foreign conflicts, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, where he served in 2002-03 -- said at a handover ceremony Sunday that ISAF's mission was to facilitate reconstruction so Afghans "might enjoy self-determination, education, health and the peaceful realization of their hopes and dreams."\n"We will quit neither post nor mission until the job is done or we are properly relieved," McNeill said.\nNinety minutes before the ceremony, a NATO airstrike killed a Taliban leader in Musa Qala, where an October peace deal between village elders and the Helmand provincial government prevented NATO, Afghan and Taliban fighters from coming within three miles of the town center.\nMohammad Wali, a Musa Qala resident, said the airstrike killed a militant named Mullah Abdul Gafoor and some of his associates while they were riding in a truck just outside Musa Qala. Collins did not name the person killed, saying officials wanted to be certain of his identify.