Monday, July 31 2006 18:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kabul: NATO-led forces formally took command of four southern Afghan provinces from US-led coalition forces today (July 31,2006), hours ahead of the planned handover ceremony.

The handover, after months of preparation, comes amid escalating violence in the former Taliban strongholds, including Iraqi-style suicide attacks.

The US-led coalition announced the early handover of responsibility, which had been scheduled to take place during a formal ceremony to be held later Monday in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. The handover ends the largest anti-Taliban operation since the ouster of the Islamic radical regime in late 2001. The operation, codenamed Mountain Thrust, brought together more than 10,000 Afghan and US-led coalition troops in an attempt since mid-May to flush out the rebels in the southern provinces, with a death toll of around 1,000, mostly Taliban insurgents.

On Sunday, at least 24 suspected Taliban fighters were killed and six captured in the latest battle between coalition forces and Islamist rebels in the Afghan region that is both a Taliban hotbed and hub of the country's drug trade.

In 2003, NATO took command of the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which primarily conducted a peacekeeping mission in relatively peaceful parts of the country such as the capital Kabul and the northern and western provinces.

With the deployment to the south, more than 8,000 mostly British, Canadian and Dutch troops risk being dragged into fighting with Taliban elements, who have intensified their attacks on Afghan and international forces in recent months.

Another challenge for NATO forces will be curbing Afghanistan's booming opium trade, which is widely thought to be bankrolling insurgent activity and contributing to widespread corruption in the south.

Though the handover will mark the toughest combat mission in NATO's 57-year history, NATO leadership and the countries contributing troops have vowed to succeed.

More than 36,000 international forces, comprising some 18,000 ISAF troops and a similar number of US-led coalition forces are struggling to help restore security to Afghanistan after three decades of turmoil.