For the second time since 2002, the major U.S. military command in Afghanistan has changed its designation, U.S. military officials said Thursday.

The command, known until now as Combined Joint Task Force-76, has been officially redesignated Combined Joint Task Force-82.

The change was made to “reflect changes in command relationships between units throughout Afghanistan,” a news release read.

“With the completion of transfer of [the] Afghan area of operations to International Security and Assistance Force X and the inactivation of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, previous tasks and command and control relationships associated with CJTF-76 no longer exist. The new name will minimize confusion and clarify the new command and control relationships.”

In June 2002, the first major unified command in Afghanistan was formed and dubbed Combined Joint Task Force-180. In April 2004, the designation was changed to CJTF-76.

The mission of CJTF-82 is to “conduct a full spectrum of operations throughout its operations area to defeat enemy extremist movement, establish an enduring security and reshape its posture for the Long War in order to set conditions for long-term stability in Afghanistan,” according to military briefing materials.

Migrated