Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization takes over command of the international security force in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, as the United Nations suspended road travel in the south after a series of attacks.

The 5,000-strong International Security Assistance Force was established to support the government of President Hamid Karzai appointed after the Taliban regime was ousted in December 2001 in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

``NATO will work within the same United Nations mandate'' as the international force ``and will operate according to current and future UN resolutions,'' NATO said in an e-mailed statement to mark today's change of command.

The peacekeeping force controls security in Kabul while warlords and gunmen, including Taliban fighters, operate in many areas of Afghanistan. UN teams were yesterday ordered to avoid travel in parts of Kandahar and Helmand provinces and in all of Uruzgan and Zabul provinces, the British Broadcasting Corp. said, citing a UN announcement in Kabul.

``Insecurity is out there and it is affecting aid operations to the detriment of the Afghan people,'' David Singh, the UN spokesman in Afghanistan, said yesterday in a statement on the UN's Web site.

The creation of an Afghan national army, a process that will take three to four years, will help restore security, he said.

Karzai has called for a 70,000-strong national army to be created. The U.S.-led coalition said last month the army now has about 5,000 soldiers.

Expanded Role

NATO is taking over command of the international force from Germany and the Netherlands, it said in its statement. The command of the force was rotated every six months.

The U.S. wants NATO to consider operating outside Kabul, William Taylor, the newly appointed U.S. coordinator for Afghanistan, said last week.

The U.S. also will encourage Karzai, backed by an extra show of force, to threaten the dismissal of regional governors who fail to improve security or pay revenue to the central government, Taylor told a group of reporters in Washington.

Taylor, appointed last month as the head of American reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, said the U.S. will give NATO some time to get used to its new role, then begin making suggestions about ways the 5,000-member peacekeeping mission can grow and take on new tasks outside Kabul.

NATO is willing to consider such an expansion, after it gets its initial operations established, Yves Brodeur, a spokesman for the military alliance, said last week in Brussels.

Last Updated: August 10, 2003 19:54 EDT