A CEREMONY took place at Kandahar Airfield today, Sunday November 1, to mark the Transfer of Authority of Regional Command South in Afghanistan from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom.

Major General Nick Carter takes command of Regional Command South from his Dutch counterpart Major General Mart de Kruif, who has held the role for the past 12 months.

Speaking in advance of the ceremony, Major General Carter said:

"I am much looking forward to taking on the command challenge of Regional Command South. There are an awful lot more resources coming into the south and with this amount of effort I believe we have an opportunity during the course of the next year to make a difference."

There are approximately 34,855 troops under Regional Command South, which coordinates all regional civil-military activities conducted by the military elements of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in their area of responsibility. These include Kandahar, Lashkar Gah, Tarin Kowt, and Qalat. It is one of four regional ISAF commands in Afghanistan.

The transfer of authority comes almost a month after Brigadier James Cowan, Commander of 11 Light Brigade took over command of Task Force Helmand from Brigadier Tim Radford OBE (19 Light Brigade).