The dismissal of NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal was greeted with dismay in Kabul, where Afghans and foreign diplomats praised his bold efforts to reshape the war.
However, the Taliban vowed the change in command would not halt their fight against foreign troops, as NATO marked a grim milestone with June becoming the deadliest month for its soldiers since the war began almost nine years ago.
McChrystal’s counter-insurgency strategy, which brought sweeping changes aimed at cutting civilian casualties and winning over the population, had been credited with bringing some order to a chaotic and spriraling conflict.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government had publicly urged the White House not to remove McChrystal over disparaging remarks he made about officials in US President Barack Obama’s administration in a Rolling Stone profile.
A spokesman for Karzai — whose relations with the White House have been troubled — praised McChrystal as a “trusted partner of the Afghan people” and said his removal would “not be helpful” at this critical juncture.
Spokesman Waheed Omar, speaking before McChrystal’s removal on Wednesday, said Kabul believed the US general had made a mistake but it should not detract from the urgency of trying to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
“For the continuation of the process in Afghanistan and the critical time that we’ve ahead — his presence is going to be greatly important.”
However, the Afghan government later said it respected Obama’s decision and welcomed the appointment of David Petraeus, the general credited with changing the direction of the Iraq conflict, to succeed McChrystal.
“His replacement General David Petraeus is someone who knows Afghanistan, who knows the region very well and is an experienced general,” Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said. “We are looking forward to working with him.”
NATO’s announcement of the deaths of four troops in a vehicle accident in southern Afghanistan made this month the deadliest single month for US-led foreign forces in the nearly nine-year conflict.
The incident brought to 79 the number of foreign troops who have died as a result of the conflict in Afghanistan so far this month.
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