Army official: Security in Afghanistan is worsening

“I think after the initial 90 days, I’ll have a good sense of where we are building on the experience we have, and of course, if confirmed, sir, the chance to do some more thorough discussions with Gen. [John] Campbell and with the team on the ground”, Lt. Gen. John “Mick” Nicholson told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Nicholson will succeed Army Gen. John Campbell who has led allied forces there since the middle of 2014.

Right now, there are about 9,800 USA troops in Afghanistan on a mission of training, advising and assisting Afghan forces and counterterrorism.

Campbell played a key role in urging President Barack Obama to walk away from plans to withdraw almost all American troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016. Instead he said they would shrink to 5,500 by the end of the year.

“For almost 18 months General Campbell has given his all to the mission as our top commander in Afghanistan, and his personal sacrifices on behalf of his troops and the Afghan people will be remembered by us all”.

Despite pulling back from most combat, USA forces have also suffered losses there.

Once it gets a confirmatory nod from United States Senate, the replacement would come in effect.

At the press conference, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook borrowed a quote from Defense Secretary Ash Carter, saying that Nicholson had put Afghanistan on a “better path.” Some suggest that Obama may be asked this year to maintain the current level of 9,800 troops until he leaves office in January 2017.

Nicholson now serves as the commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command in Turkey. He earlier was the director of the Pentagon’s Afghanistan-Pakistan coordination cell. But when he took command in Afghanistan in August 2014, it was generally assumed that he would see the war to its conclusion and bring the last US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops home.

A new report has revealed that the United States military warned the Obama administration that thousands of USA troops could remain in Afghanistan for decades. The Taliban is at perhaps its strongest point since the war began, showing force across long-restive Helmand province, waging pitched battles against US-sponsored Afghan forces that last hours and leave USA special forces dead and wounded. Now that job will fall to another general in a long line of US military commanders who have taken the lead in the 14-year USA war in Afghanistan.

USA troops entered Afghanistan in 2001.