NATO to oversee more troops in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO will soon assume direct control over most military operations in Afghanistan, a move that will place 12,000 more U.S. troops under its authority, a spokesman for the alliance said Sunday.

The expansion will consolidate command under British Lt. Gen. David Richards and phase out the role of U.S. Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, whose troops will be transferred to NATO, said Mark Laity, an alliance spokesman.

Of the 40,000 foreign troops here, only 8,000 U.S. troops will function outside NATO control: those tracking al-Qaida terrorists or involved in air operations, Laity said. The overall U.S. troop level will remain about 20,000.

“In a few days, on a date yet to be declared, you will see the completion of the steady expansion of ISAF,” the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, Laity said.

The consolidation under NATO confines direct U.S. control to one chief enclave: the sprawling American base at Bagram.

U.S.-operated prisons and interrogation centers at Bagram will remain under U.S. command. NATO transfers its detainees to Afghan police.