Petraeus hands over a 'political hot potato'

By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON - United States special operations forces in Afghanistan, whose commando raids and airstrikes against suspected Taliban targets have caused large numbers of civilian casualties that have angered Afghans, have quietly been put under the "tactical control" of the commander of US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, for the first time.

An order issued last Tuesday at the direction of Central Command (CENTCOM) chief General David Petraeus gives McKiernan authority over all operations by special operations units stationed in the country, as Colonel Gregory Julian, McKiernan's spokesperson, confirmed in an e-mail to Inter Press Service (IPS). The order, which has not been made public, modifies previous command arrangements which had excluded US special operations forces from McKiernan's command authority.