We won't ease up on Taliban, pledges new US commander

The new commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan today promised not to ease up in the battle against the Taliban.

General John Allen took over from General David Petraeus - who is becoming director of the CIA - as the allies continue with plans to withdraw from the 10-year conflict.

Gen Petraeus was the architect of the counter-insurgency strategy that aimed to bring peace through an emphasis on decisive strikes against known insurgents and protecting the local population. Violent attacks have continued but military officials argue they are not as widespread or as intense as they would have been otherwise.

Gen Allen, who officially took command of the 140,000 American and international troops at a ceremony in Kabul this morning, said the "drawdown" of US forces that started this month and the transition of some areas to Afghan control this week do not mean that international forces are easing up in their campaign.

He said: "It is my intention to maintain the momentum of the campaign. There will be tough days ahead. I have no illusions about the challenges."

The handover ceremony came on a day when a bomb killed three international troops in east Afghanistan and only hours after security forces in the capital killed the last of two assassins who murdered a close adviser to President Hamid Karzai.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in which two gunmen shot adviser Jan Mohammed Khan and a parliamentarian he was meeting in his house and then barricaded themselves inside. Police finally ended the siege this morning.

A Taliban video released today shows some of its fighters executing 16 Pakistani policemen. The policemen were captured in a raid in the north-west of Pakistan last month. They are lined up on a hillside, their hands tied, as one of the Taliban accuses them of executing children. Taliban soldiers then shoot them.