A NATO spokesman said yesterday that military operations to secure vast areas of Afghanistan would not be delayed by the ouster of the top commander in the war and mounting casualties.
NATO and US forces are continuing their work as they await the arrival of new commander General David Petraeus. He is taking over from General Stanley McChrystal, who was ousted by US President Barack Obama after he and his aides were quoted in Rolling Stone magazine making disparaging remarks about top Obama administration officials.
There has been concern that the leadership shake-up will further slow a push into the volatile south that has already been delayed by weeks in some areas and months in others. However, NATO spokesman Brigadier Josef Blotz told reporters in Kabul that the worries are unwarranted and the military is not pausing because of the changes.
“We will not miss a beat in our operations to expand security here in Afghanistan,’’ Blotz said, repeating the assurances of many diplomats in recent days that the change in leadership did not mean a re-evaluation of strategy.
The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, flew to Afghanistan on Saturday to assure Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Petraeus would pursue the policies of his predecessor, including efforts to reduce civilian casualties.
Blotz said Petraeus was expected in Kabul in the next seven to 10 days.
Operations appear to be continuing apace, according to NATO statements. Two recent air strikes in the north, east and south killed at least nine militants, including two local Taliban commanders, NATO and Afghan officials said. No civilians were injured, NATO said.
Eight other militants were killed in a NATO-Afghan military operation in eastern Ghazni Province, according to General Khail Buz Sherzai, the provincial police chief.
NATO deaths are also climbing daily. A US service member was killed in a bomb attack in the south and two others in a firefight in the east on Sunday, said Colonel Wayne Shanks, a US forces spokesman.
This month has become the deadliest of the war for NATO troops with at least 93 killed, 56 of them American. For US troops, the deadliest month was last October, with a toll of 59 dead.
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