In its first major operation outside its traditional European theatre in its 54-year-history, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation takes over command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Germany and the Netherlands, who have led the Kabul-based force for the past six months.

The handover here will see little physical change besides the transfer of command from ISAF Lieutenant General Norbert van Heyst to a fellow German, NATO Lieutenant General Goetz Gliemeroth.

With around 90 percent of the 4,600-strong force already contributed by NATO countries, no major upheavals are expected.

NATO's assumption of command for an indefinite period, however, does end the six-month ritual of searching for a new lead nation for ISAF, which was established under a United Nations mandate to help with security in the Afghan capital after the fall of the Taliban.

"I think it's quite clearly a milestone in NATO's development and it represents a real break from the NATO of the past to a NATO which is more relevant and has greater utility in the uncertain security environment we find in the future," said General Sir Jack Deverell, commander-in-chief of NATO Allied Forces North, which will be responsible for Afghanistan.

"It certainly meets the demands of the United Nations to have an organisation which is capable of taking a much longer view of the operations in the Kabul area."

Analysts agreed that NATO command would end the six-monthly search for a new ISAF lead nation and allow for a long-term assessment of security needs.

"I think it's a positive development. One of the obstacles ISAF has faced has been discontinuity in command," said Vikram Parekh, senior Afghanistan analyst with the International Crisis Group thinktank.

"I hope that NATO leadership will allow longer-term assessment of security needs," he said.

And with elections scheduled for next June, analysts and departing ISAF commander van Heyst say security has to be improved in the provinces before the polls can be held.

Attacks have increased in the former Taliban heartland of south and southeast Afghanistan, where the hardline militia is said to be regrouping.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has also warned that deteriorating security is the main challenge.

President Hamid Karzai and the United Nations have been repeatedly rebuffed in their calls for ISAF to be extended to the provinces, which remain largely under the influence of warlords and militia leaders with nominal allegiance to Kabul.

NATO's arrival could give added impetus to renewed calls to expand the peacekeepers to the provinces, especially with Washington scrambling to boost assistance to Karzai ahead of the polls. Washington has said it will give around one billion dollars in new assistance this year.

"It could be a good thing, especially if it was to allow for expansion of ISAF outside Kabul," said Paul Barker, country director for the international humanitarian group CARE.

CARE has been pushing for an expansion of ISAF, however there is currently no indication that NATO is willing go beyond Kabul.

Afghanistan has the lowest ratio of peacekeepers to population of any recent post-conflict country, according to a CARE study.

While NATO's other missions in Kosovo and Bosnia had a ratio of one peacekeeper to every 48 and 58 people respectively, the ratio for Afghanistan is one peacekeeper to every 5,380 Afghans.

Barker said the scaling back of peacekeeping missions in the Balkans could free up troops to expand Afghan operations.

But analysts and humanitarian workers recognise that expansion of ISAF is not a panacea as Afghanistan has to eventually take charge of its own security. But with just 5,500 soldiers trained so far out of a planned force of 70,000, it will be years before Afghanistan can look after itself.

The Afghan mission represents a critical test of NATO's bid to carve itself a new role following the demise of the Soviet threat.

Accused of lapsing into irrelevance in recent years, NATO is keen to show it has a role to play in the war against terrorism. However it may have to look beyond Afghanistan where the US-led alliance could be seen as tidying up more loose ends from the Cold War which brought it into being.

"It could presage NATO peacekeeping in other post-conflict situations," said Parekh.

"But Afghanistan is different as a result of the Russian invasion and Cold War intervention," he said.

"I wouldn't view it as being dissimilar to other post-Communist conflicts which have arisen, such as in the Balkans."

WAR.WIRE