Several hundred Afghan and foreign officials gathered to witness the formal shift to a new, much smaller NATO assistance and training mission, which was held in a basketball gym inside NATO headquarters here and accompanied by a brass band and a color guard.
“Our commitment to Afghanistan endures. . . . We are not walking away,” promised Gen. John F. Campbell, the U.S. commander of the outgoing International Security Assistance Forces mission, who will remain in command of the new NATO support role here that technically begins at midnight Wednesday.
Campbell and other Western officials stressed that from now on, their function under the new mission, called Resolute Support, will be mainly to advise, train and assist Afghan security forces. However, they said a separate contingent of U.S. forces will provide security, logistical support and some counterterrorism activities.
The total number of international troops here, which peaked in 2009 with about 142,000, has gradually shrunk to about 17,000. Under Resolute Support, officials said, a total of 12,000 NATO forces will remain through the end of 2015, including about 5,000 Americans. An additional 5,500 U.S. forces will operate in the second separate role.
