Kabul, Afghanistan:
US General David Petraeus formally assumed command of the 130,000-strong international force in Afghanistan on Sunday, declaring "we are in this to win" despite rising casualties and growing skepticism about the nearly nine-year-old war.
During a ceremony at NATO headquarters, Petraeus received two flags - one for the US and the other for NATO - marking his formal assumption of command.
He said it was important to demonstrate to the Afghan people and world that Al-Qaida and its extremist allies will not be allowed to again establish sanctuaries in Afghanistan from which they could launch attacks on the United States and other countries.
"We are in this to win," Petraeus told a crowd of several hundred NATO and Afghan officials at the ceremony held on a grassy area just outside coalition headquarters. "We have arrived at a critical moment."
Petraeus succeeded General Stanley McChrystal, who was fired last month for intemperate remarks he and his aides made to Rolling Stone magazine about Obama administration officials who were mostly on the civilian side.
"Upfront I also want to recognize the enormous contributions of my predecessor, General Stanley McChrystal," Petraeus said. He said the progress made reflected McChrystal's "vision, energy and leadership."
Petraeus said the change in command did not signal a radical shift in McChrystal's strategy of making the protection of the Afghan people the focus of the military mission. He stressed the importance of avoiding civilian casualties, but said he would examine the civilian and military policies "to determine where refinements might be needed."
That suggested he would review the rules under which NATO soldiers fight, including McChrystal's curbs on the use of airpower and heavy weapons if civilians are at risk. Some troops have complained such restraint puts their own lives in danger and hands the battlefield advantage to the Taliban and their allies.
"We must never forget that the decisive terrain in Afghanistan is the human terrain," Petraeus wrote Sunday in a memo to his troops, praising their effort. "Protecting those we are here to help nonetheless does require killing, capturing or turning the insurgents. We will not shrink from that."
Petraeus noted that June had been the deadliest month for the international force since the war began in October 2001 with 102 deaths, more than half of them Americans.
"As you and our Afghan partners on the ground get into tough situations, we must employ all assets to ensure your safety, keeping in mind, again, the importance of avoiding civilian casualties," he said.
Speaking before Petraeus, German Army General Egon Ramms, whose Allied Joint Forces Command oversees NATO forces in Afghanistan, also praised the work of McChrystal, saying he took the coalition "forward at a very difficult time."
Violence continued across Afghanistan on Sunday.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior said 63 drug smugglers and terrorists were killed and 16 tons of drugs and drug-making chemicals destroyed in a two-day operation that ended Sunday in southern Afghanistan. Ten armed militants and smugglers, including some foreigners, were arrested by a counternarcotics unit assisted by coalition forces along Afghanistan's southern border with Pakistan, the ministry said.
It said authorities freed 14 civilians being held by the smugglers and terrorists, and confiscated weapons, explosives and suicide vests during the operation at Baramcha in southern Helmand province.
Also in the south, four civilians were killed and five others were wounded Sunday by a remote-controlled bomb set up on a motorcycle in a bazaar in Musa Qala, said Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand province. At the time of the blast, police were busy defusing another bomb planted on a donkey, Ahmadi said.
On Saturday, a civilian was killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the Tagab district of Kapisa province, another civilian driving a car was killed when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Khash Rod district of Nimroz province, and four civilians died in a roadside bomb attack in the Shinkay district of Zabul province, Afghan police officials said Sunday.