The Associated Press

Wed, May 21, 2008 (2:12 p.m.)

The Defense Department said Wednesday it has shelved a plan to take greater control in parts of Afghanistan where NATO is in charge after the Dutch and British agreed to extend their commands.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the Netherlands and Britain will stay in control in southern Afghanistan for a full year, rather than in months, as the military alliance fights a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

The European allies agreed to the new arrangement in recent conversations with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Morrell said.

"I think we're trying to create a situation in which ... by the command serving longer, there'll be greater stability and continuity to our operations" in southern Afghanistan, Morrell said. The U.S. raised the idea and allies signed on, he said.

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

In recent months, the Pentagon suggested giving the U.S. military more authority in those areas now under NATO command. U.S. control is now limited to eastern Afghanistan.

Gates said the idea, which reflected internal discussion, was worth considering. U.S. military leaders had expressed concern about a lack of continuity among NATO forces. Also, there was a sense that in the long run, it might be better for NATO to focus mainly on areas with less fighting but a great need for noncombat aid _ Afghanistan's north and west, for example.

Taliban resistance has stiffened in the south since NATO took command there in mid-2006. Some officials in the Pentagon believe the fight against the Taliban could gain strength if the U.S. also took charge in part or all the south.

A NATO official said Wednesday that while the U.S. floated the idea of controlling the south, the Pentagon did not press hard for the plan. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not involved in the Pentagon's announcement, said there were no real disputes over the plan.

Last week, however, the German general who commands the NATO headquarters in the southern Netherlands argued against the Americans' taking over southern Afghanistan too early. Gen. Egon Ramms, whose office oversees the NATO international security force in Afghanistan, said there had been a lot of effort spent training staff in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and they should be left in place for at least an additional year.

Morrell dismissed the suggestion that the new agreement for longer European commands was a compromise. But, he added, "We work with allies in (southern Afghanistan) and throughout the country, and we take their considerations into account."

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Associated Press writer Paul Ames contributed to this report from Brussels, Belgium.