12,000 U.S. Troops in Afghanistan to Serve Under NATO

, WASHINGTON: More than half of the U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan will become part of the NATO International Security Assistance Force during a transfer-of-authority ceremony tomorrow morning in the Afghan capital of Kabul. 
 
Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, will transfer command of Regional Command East to NATO. During that transfer, about 12,000 U.S. troops currently assigned to CFCA will join 20,000 NATO troops assigned to the ISAF mission. 
 
However, the affected troops will remain under U.S. control, Bryan Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told Pentagon reporters today. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76, will serve as the U.S. operational commander and ISAF deputy commander for security. 
 
The other 8,000 U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan will remain under CFCA to conduct a variety of other missions, from conducting counterterrorism efforts to training Afghan security forces to providing combat service support, Whitman explained. 
 
The North Atlantic Council approved expansion of the NATO-led ISAF to include 14 additional provinces in eastern Afghanistan Sept. 28. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called that decision another example of the progress the alliance is making