Nato troops replace US

KABUL - Nato forces took over security from the US-led coalition in volatile southern Afghanistan yesterday, embarking on one of the alliance's toughest ground operations in its 57-year history.

Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase of violence since the ousting of the Taleban Government in 2001, with most attacks occurring in the south.

Thirty suspected Taleban were killed on the eve of the handover.

Nato's 8000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is made up of 37 countries from Nato and non-Nato states. They will take over security in six provinces in the south, a Taleban stronghold.

"Nato is here for the long term, for as long as the Government and people of Afghanistan require our assistance," Lieutenant-General David Richards, the British Nato commander who will be responsible for the south, said in a statement.

Until now Nato has been in charge of security in the capital, Kabul, and the safer north and west of the country.

The Nato alliance conducted aerial combat operations during the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s, but it has yet to conduct major ground-combat operations since it was founded in 1949 as a deterrent against the Soviet bloc.

- REUTERS