US General Stanley McChrystal took command of nearly 90,000 US- and Nato-led troops in Afghanistan Monday, tasked with turning around the war against the Taliban as attacks reach record levels. McChrystal was appointed after his predecessor was sacked in May when the United States said it needed "new thinking" in a war that is gaining pace, nearly eight years after the extremist Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.
At a small ceremony at the Kabul headquarters of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the former commander of special operations forces in Iraq and Afghanistan said the struggle ahead would be hard. He emphasised the importance of protecting Afghan civilians on whose support and trust the mission depended.
"If we gain that trust, we cannot lose. If we lose that trust, we cannot win," he told soldiers and civilians at the event. "The Afghan people are in the centre of our mission. In reality they are our mission. We must protect them from violence whatever its nature," he said. His predecessor, General David McKiernan, was removed as the US military was accused of one of its deadliest incidents involving civilians since the 2001 invasion.
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