NATO Takes Over The US Led Coalition In Southern Afghanistan
Nidhi Sharma - All Headline News Staff Writer Kandahar, Afghanistan (AHN) - In the latest attempt to curb Taliban forces, the troops from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Monday assumed command of military operations in southern Afghanistan from the U.S.-led coalition. The Taliban led attacks were heightened Monday when a bomb blast intended for a provincial governor killed eight people at a mosque service. The bomb was planted in a car and it exploded near a mosque in Farmay Adha, 12 miles south of the Nangarhar provincial capital of Jalalabad. The blast killed eight people, including five police and three children. Sixteen others were wounded. The NATO-led force comprised of mostly of British, Canadian and Dutch troops. It took over in the south from a U.S.-led anti-terror coalition that was first deployed nearly five years ago to locate the hiding al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of U.S.-led coalition forces is quoted by the AP as saying, "Today's transfer of authority demonstrates to the Afghan people that there is a strong commitment on the part of the international community to further extend security into the southern region's provinces." The takeover is considered the most challenging in the Western alliance's 57-year history. The takeover follows three days of intense fighting that left more than 50 Taliban fighters and eight others dead.
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