The Associated Press

Wed, May 21, 2008 (12:12 p.m.)

A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. military's plan to take greater control of Afghanistan regions now under NATO command has been shelved, at least for now.

Instead, the Netherlands and Great Britain have agreed to extend their commands in southern Afghanistan from nine months to 12 months, to provide greater stability in the fight against a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says the Dutch and the British agreed to the new plan in recent conversations with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The U.S. has complained that changing commands every nine months, and rotating troops even more frequently, does not provide the necessary continuity for an effective fight against the insurgency, particularly in the country's volatile south.