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Profile: Major General John McColl

General McColl has previously served with the UN

Major General McColl started his army career in 1973 when he was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment and his early appointments included spells in Cyprus, Norway, Northern Ireland and Belize.

He attended the Army Staff Course in Camberley in 1984 before serving as a staff officer in Germany, where he returned in 1992 as a commander. He then accompanied the UN to Bosnia in 1994.

On being promoted to colonel he was appointed to chief of staff 1st (UK) Armoured Division in 1995 before returning to Bosnia a year later as part of Nato's Peace Implementation Force (IFOR) for a further six-month tour.

He was appointed to general officer commanding 3rd (UK) Division in November last year.

General McColl is married with three children and lists his hobbies as golf and running very slowly.

He has been leading a small reconnaissance group of about a dozen soldiers in Kabul who began making practical arrangements for the main deployment.

He also met leader designate of the interim Afghan administration, Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah over the weekend. It is their fledgling governance that the force will seek to protect.