Nato ends combat operations in Afghanistan

The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, came to power in September and faces the challenge of tackling insurgents without Nato military assistance. Photograph: Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images

After 13 years of war, Nato formally ended its combat operations in Afghanistan on Sunday, leaving the Afghan army and police in charge of security in a country plagued by continued fighting, a ferocious insurgency and a rising tide of both military and civilian casualties.

Against a backdrop of violent clashes in a number of provinces and several weeks of deadly attacks on the capital, military leaders lowered the flag of a mission conceived in 2001, and hoisted the colours of a new one under which Natos role will largely be restricted to training, advising and assisting the local army and police.

Our Afghan partners can and will take the fight from here, said General John F Campbell, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at a ceremony in the capital.

As insurgent attacks have increased in many parts of the country in 2014, Afghan forces have already been leading the fight in recent months but at a high price.

More than 5,000 local security forces have been killed this year alone, the highest toll since the war began. In comparison, the international coalition has suffered a total of 3,485 deaths since 2001.

The Afghan national security forces had to suffer losses this year that are too high, ISAFs deputy commander Lieutenant General Carsten Jacobson said, speaking to reporters after the ceremony. Now that [the Afghan forces] have taken over the tactical fight, losses lie on them.

Between 17,000 and 18,000 international troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014, of which 12,000 - including approximately 470 British troops - will form part of the new Nato mission, named Resolute Support.

An additional 5,500 US soldiers will perform different roles, including counterterrorism and logistical assistance. At their peak in 2011, international forces numbered close to 150,000.

The international coalitions biggest achievement has been to help build a 350,000-strong security force in Afghanistan from scratch. But they are still ill-equipped, particularly when it comes to air support and intelligence gathering.

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Nato ends combat operations in Afghanistan