Proceeding carefully

Ryan Crocker, a veteran diplomat, took over from outgoing Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, whose tense relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai were documented extensively in leaked cables revealed on Wikileaks in December.

Afghans should take over

"We are at a time of transition in Afghanistan," said Crocker, after taking his oath of office in a ceremony held at the US Embassy in Kabul. "It is a time for us to step back and for the Afghans to step forward, as they're doing. There can be no clearer evidence than last week's successful security transition," the incoming ambassador said.

Last week NATO-led forces handed over seven parts of the country to Afghan control, triggering a process that is due to end with the withdrawal of all 150,000 foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

'No rush for the exits'

Crocker was quick to acknowledge that Americans in the US were growing weary of the Afghan war but he also warned of "incalculable long-term effects and cost of getting it wrong." He warned that a hasty transition may lead to a relapse of violence in Afghanistan. "We must proceed carefully," he said, adding: "There will be no rush for the exits." Crocker made reference to US involvement in the early 90's: "Frankly, we left the wrong way in the early 1990's, and we all know the history of those decisions: the civil war, the rise of the Taliban, sanctuary for al-Qaeda, and 9/11," he said, while also emphasizing that the US has no interest in permanent bases in Afghanistan.

Former ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon, Crocker was also the US official to reopen the US embassy in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in a US-led invasion in 2001.

Author: Manasi Gopalakrishnan (Reuters, AFP, dpa)
Editor: Sarah Berning