Karzai greets new commander, McChrystal

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 15 (UPI) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal to Kabul during a ceremony for the new American operations commander.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in a hasty news conference in May called for the resignation of Gen. David McKiernan as the leader of international forces in Afghanistan, nominating McChrystal, a counterinsurgency expert, as the head of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

McChrystal, who arrived in Afghanistan during the weekend, was met with immediate concern by the Afghan president over accounts of civilian casualties allegedly caused by U.S. military action.

"The most important element of the mission of the new NATO/coalition forces commander in Afghanistan is to protect civilian population during the anti-terrorism military operations, and the Afghan government will fully cooperate with you towards achieving this very important goal," the Afghan president said.

A May 4 U.S. airstrike in the Afghan province of Farah was found to have violated the rules of engagement, resulting in a disputed number of civilian casualties.

The arrival of McChrystal in Afghanistan followed two days of meetings in Brussels with defense ministers to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

NATO and defense officials agreed to support the Afghan elections, scheduled for August, with an additional 10,000 troops to back domestic security efforts.

Citing progress in the security front, NATO ministers said training Afghan security forces was imperative to sustain any security gains for the war-torn country.

U.S. Gen. John Craddock, the NATO supreme allied commander for Europe, meanwhile, said counter-narcotics operations in the country seized more than 34 tons of opium and 7 tons of hashish in the last year.