Top US commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, transferred authority to General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, in a ceremony in Kabul on Monday.
Miller becomes America’s last commander on the ground in Afghanistan ahead of a formal end to the military mission in the country on August 31.
McKenzie, whose Florida-based Central Command oversees US forces in hot-spots including Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, underscored America’s future assistance to Afghan security forces.
“Admittedly, it’s going to be very different than it was in the past. I’m not going to minimize that,” McKenzie said. “But we’re going to support them.”
He cautioned that the Taliban appeared to be seeking “a military solution” to the war and that provincial capitals were at risk, but noted that the Afghan security forces “are determined to fight very hard for those provincial capitals.”
McKenzie will be able to authorise US air strikes against the Taliban through Aug. 31. After that, the focus will shift squarely to counter-terrorism operations against al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Meanwhile, head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, who attended the event said that the Taliban cannot take over Afghanistan through military means.
Hamdullah Mohib, the country’s national security adviser, said that the Taliban still maintain ties with al Qaeda.
