US Gen. Dunford takes the helm (video)

KABUL (PAN): Tasked with bringing forces home and overseeing the transfer of security duties to Afghan forces, US Gen. Joseph Dunford on Sunday assumed command of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan from Gen. John Allen during a special change of command ceremony at ISAF headquarters in Kabul amid tight security.

Likely to be the last commander of the United States’ longest war, Marine General Dunford, takes the helm as the Taliban’s bloody insurgency against President Hamid Karzai’s government and foreign forces continues to persist.

Allen, who leaves to become the alliance’s supreme commander in Europe, said: “We will be victorious.” He said victory over the insurgency led by the Taliban would “never be marked by a date, a point in time in the calendar” but insisted the effort would prevail. “The insurgency will be defeated over time by legitimate and well-trained Afghan forces,” he said.

By: Obaidullah Hussam and Ataullah Khpulwok

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