KABUL (Reuters) - NATO took command of the training of the Afghan army and police on Saturday to consolidate efforts on building an effective security force, a vital precondition for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

The existing U.S. training mission, CSTC-A, until now responsible for most of the training, is to merge with the new "NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan" (NTM-A), under a single NATO command, commanders said on Saturday at a ceremony in Kabul.

Deputy Commander of the new NATO mission Major General Michael Ward said he believed the move would encourage more NATO training personnel to be sent to Afghanistan, helping to speed the expansion of local forces.

"I'm very optimistic. We've identified what our needs are and we're bringing those back to NATO to get nations to contribute and we've already seen in this run-up, a significant number of people coming in with exactly the right skills," Ward told Reuters.