KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Monday plans to take command of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan’s war-shattered capital, a move that reflects the 54-year-old alliance’s shifting priorities in the global war on terror.
The deployment in Asia will be NATO’s first outside Europe since the organization was formed during the Cold War to provide a bulwark against possible attacks by the former Soviet Union.
NATO will take over command of the 5,000-strong International Security Assistance Force, known as ISAF, from Germany and the Netherlands during a ceremony in Kabul. [Boston Globe]