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For almost two years, the ISAF mandate did not go beyond the boundaries of Kabul. According to General Norbert Van Heyst , such a deployment would require at least an extra ten thousand soldiers. The responsibility for security throughout the whole of Afghanistan was to be given to the newly-constituted Afghan National Army. However, on October 13, 2003, the Security Council voted unanimously to expand the ISAF mission beyond Kabul. Shortly thereafter, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said that that Canadian peacekeepers (nearly half of the entire force) would not deploy outside Kabul.

On October 24, the GermanThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east BundestagThe Bundestag ("Federal Diet") is the parliament of Germany. It was established with West Germany's constitution of 1949 (the Grundgesetz) and is the successor of the earlier Reichstag. Originally convened in Bonn in 1949, since 1999, the Bundestag has as voted to send German troops to the region of KunduzKunduz is a city in Afghanistan; the name has also sometimes been rendered as Kunduz, Qonduz, Qonduz, Konduz, Konduz, Kondoz or Qhunduz . The city was anciently known as Drapsaka and was a place of importance visited by Alexander the Great. Kunduz is loca. Around 230 additional soldiers are deployed to that region, marking the first time that ISAF soldiers operated outside of Kabul.

1 Command

ISAF command rotated among different nations on a 6-month basis. However there was tremendous difficulty securing new lead nations. To solve the problem, command was turned over indefinitely to NATO on August 11August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 142 days remaining. Events 3114 BC beginning of our current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar 480 BC Persians under Xerxes defeat Spartans under King Leoni, 2003. This marked NATO's first deployment outside EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se or North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea. That day, Nicholas Burns , the U.S. ambassador to NATO wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the mandate of ISAF should be expanded beyond the capital Kabul. One option he suggested would be for NATO to participate in U.S.-led " Provincial Reconstruction Teams" which were already active in trying to enforce security outside Kabul. NATO spokesman Mark Laity insisted, however, that NATO would stick to ISAF's Kabul-oriented mandate.

The history of ISAF command is as follows:

• December 2001 to June 2002: ISAF was under the command of the United Kingdom, led by Major General John McColl .
• June 2002 to February 10, 2003: ISAF was under the command of Turkey, led by Major General Hilmi Akin Zorlu ; during this period, Turkish troops increased from about 100 to 1,300.
• February 10, 2003 to August 11, 2003: ISAF was under the command of Germany and the Netherlands, led by Lieutenant General Norbert Van Heyst , his Deputy was Brigadier General Bertholee of Netherlands.
• August 11, 2003 to present (indefinitely): ISAF is under the command of NATO, led by NATO Lieutenant General Goetz Gliemeroth , with Canadian Army Major General Andrew Leslie as his deputy. Canada had been originally slated to take over command of ISAF on August 11.
• Canadian Lieutenant General Rick Hillier assumed command of this NATO force on February 9, 2004, his deputy is Major General Werner Korte of Germany .