Brussels, 11/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - During the official ceremony on 10 February in Kabul, the Netherlands and Germany formally took over command of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, taking over from Turkey for a period of six months. In the presence of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, German, Dutch and Turkish Defence Ministers, Peter Struck, Henk Kampet and Vecdi Gonul, together with Turkish General Akin Zorlu, transferred command to German General Norbert van Heyst and his Adjutant, Dutch General Robert Bertholee.
Turkey took over at the head of ISAF from the United Kingdom in June 2002 for an initial six months mandate but had to extend the mandate by two months while waiting for Germany and the Netherlands to prepare. ISAF forces will reach around 5,000 from around thirty countries at the end of the month. 2,500 of these will be German soldiers, 600 Dutch and 500 French.
For the first time, the two countries will share responsibility for commanding an international force, stressed Mr Struck. It is also the first time that NATO forces have been employed in Afghanistan, he pointed out. He also explained that this was perhaps the first NATO step in the direction of extending its responsibility to this country and that there was a chance that NATO would take over command of this multi-national force in order to avoid changes every six months.