Lieutenant-General Stanley McChrystal is shown in this 2003 file photo. McChrystal is replacing General David McKiernan as the top Nato leader in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama today replaced his top general in Afghanistan in an attempt to turn round a war that has been going badly for the US and to step up the hunt for the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden.
General David McKiernan, who was in overall command of all Nato forces, including the British, has lost the the job after only 11 months in command. Taliban forces have been making advances in Afghanistan in a war that the US had thought it had won in 2001. He is to to replaced by a soldier who has spent most of his career in one of the most secretive forces in the US, specialising in counter-insurgency.
The Pentagon declined to say why McKiernan was being replaced. But the change comes as General David Petraeus, who overseas military strategy for the region, is putting in to place Obama's new strategic plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, announcing the change at a Pentagon press conference, said there was a time for "new thinking" on Afghanistan.
Gates said McKiernan had done nothing wrong but there was a feeling that there was a need for a fresh look.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, who attended the press conference with Gates, said McKiernan would have been rotated anyway after at the end of 18 to 24 months.
McKiernan had been repeatedly asking for a significant increase in US or other Nato forces in Afghanistan, saying he needed at least 30,000 more troops for what he warned was going to be a tough 12 months.
Obama gave him only two-thirds of that, and this included troops who would not have a combat role but instead are to train Afghan forces.
McKiernan is to be replaced by Lieutenant-General Stanley McChrystal, who has spent most of his career behind the scenes in special forces and has led operations aimed at targeting particular individuals, such as the one that resulted in the killing of the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in 2006.
McChrystal has built his reputation on co-ordinating various strands of intelligence in a ruthless pursuit of enemies.
The switch comes only weeks after Obama announced the outcome of a review of policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As part of that, Obama indicated he wanted a more focused counter-insurgency approach, which would suit McChrystal more, and is sending an extra 21,000 US troops to Afghanistan.
The coming months are potentially fraught for US and Nato forces as the Taliban in past years have used spring and summer to mount their offensives, and the Afghanistan election scheduled for later this year gives them even more of an incentive to create chaos.
McChrystal headed a secretive force but he was outed by President George Bush who gave him public credit for the Zarqawi killing. He could turn out to be a controversial choice. When he faced a Senate confirmation hearing last year, with senators asking about alleged mistreatment of detainees by special forces under his command in Iraq and Afghanistan.
McKiernan, who had been a top commander in Iraq, was named to the Afghanistan job by President George Bush. He had led US forces on the ground in Iraq during the 2003 invasion.
He said last year that the problem posed by Afghanistan was tougher than Iraq. He described Afghanistan as "a far more complex environment than I ever found in Iraq." The country's mountainous terrain, rural population, poverty, illiteracy, 400 major tribal networks and history of civil war all make for unique challenges, he said.
Obama, since becoming president, has overseen a shift in US priorities away from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan. But in the few short months he had been in power, the security situated in both countries has deteriorated, particularly in Pakistan.
He argued that the military alone could not win the war and there is a need for build up the civiian infrastructure, particularly along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
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