Nightfall on Dec. 30 found the Federal troops drawn up on the west bank of Stones River, two miles outside Murfreesboro.
The new government inherits massive problems, including fighting an emboldened Taliban that in recent months has been launching ever more aggressive attacks as foreign troops draw down.
It is believed to be a bastion of revolutionary fervor, with anywhere from 5,000 to 14,000 troops drawn from the elite of the other branches.
The meeting, attended by dozens of countries and organizations, worked on a political and economic strategy to ensure Afghan stability after NATO troops draw down.
The troops drawn up in the northern section of town, in the vicinity of the Niavaran Palace, were not even tested.
"As the U.S. troops drew down from Iraq, you had a real shift away in attention from Iraq," said Sarah Margon, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch.
Already a crowd of many thousands had collected, but was prevented from entering the square by mounted troops drawn up across each thoroughfare.
The feuding within the Afghan elite has intensified as the 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of US, British and Nato troops draws nearer.
Mr. Le Roy is running 18 missions, with 115,000 troops drawn from 118 countries, which he called "the second largest deployed army in the world".
But NATO does not want to weaken its peacekeeping effort in Kosovo so troops drawn from that mission would need to be replaced.
