Like the British and Soviets, we might finally be leaving

With New Control, General to Focus on Withdrawal in Afghanistan

By ALISSA J. RUBIN, NYT

KABUL, Afghanistan — Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. took command of both the American and the international military missions in Afghanistan in a traditional handoff ceremony on Sunday, becoming the 15th general to lead the international command here — and he is expected to be its last.

It falls to General Dunford, who led the Fifth Marine Regiment at the start of the Iraq war, to manage the withdrawal of nearly 100,000 troops, about 68,000 of them American, and a vast amount of equipment and cargo from a landlocked country still at war with the Taliban.

He will also oversee the final transfer of lead responsibility for security to Afghan troops, including in the most volatile districts in the south and east where the Taliban have maintained influence if not outright control.

He takes over from Gen. John R. Allen, whose 19-month tenure as supreme commander in Afghanistan was marked by urgent diplomacy to repair a damaged relationship with the Afghan government and public, and who oversaw the beginning in earnest of the security transfer that General Dunford is to complete.

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