Posted on: Friday, January 28, 2005

Hawai'i-based general to be commander in Afghanistan

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. general who helped rebuild Afghanistan's army has been named as the next commander of American forces in the country, the U.S. military said yesterday.

Army Maj. Gen. Karl Eikenberry would take up his new post "probably within the next two to three months," said Mark McCann, a military spokesman in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Eikenberry's assignment will require confirmation in the U.S. Senate.

President Bush nominated Eikenberry for a third star and assignment as commander in Afghanistan, the U.S. Department of Defense said earlier this week.

Eikenberry, currently director of strategic planning for the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawai'i, is to replace Lt. Gen. David Barno, who took charge of the Afghan operation in November 2003.

Barno's term has seen the 18,000-strong U.S.-led coalition shift its focus from the so-far fruitless search for top fugitives, including al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, toward operations in support of Afghanistan's new government.

Eikenberry served from September 2002 to September 2003 as the head of the U.S. military's office for military cooperation, which is in charge of establishing the Afghan National Army.

The Afghan army numbers around 18,000 and is expected to reach its full strength of 70,000 in 2007.