The newly appointed commander of the U.S. and NATO-led peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan General Stanley A. McChrystal has vowed to accelerate security and development in the war-torn country, a statement of the alliance released in Kabul on Monday said.

"Gen. McChrystal will lead the international community's efforts to bring security to Afghanistan, in partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), to create the conditions for governance, reconstruction and development to flourish," the statement added.

The general, according to the statement, has noted that, "the measure of effectiveness will not be (the number of) enemy killed, it will be the number of Afghans shielded from violence."

Gen. McChrystal, who arrived in Kabul and held a meeting with President Hamid Karzai Sunday, was about to assume the charge of over 70,000-strong U.S.-led Coalition and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

McChrystal has commented that intelligence-driven precision operations are subordinate to efforts protecting development projects.

The appointment of a new U.S. general as commander-in-chief of the international troops in the post-Taliban nation took place in the wake of dismissal of his fellow countrymen General David McKiernan in May.

The increasing Taliban activities and rising civilian casualties during military operations led Pentagon to announce the removal of McKiernan on May 11 and to stress for bringing durable stability in the war-battered central Asian state.

Source: Xinhua