Hearings Begin For Obama’s Choice To Lead US Troops In Afghanistan

Army Lt. Gen. John W. “Mick” Nicholson, Jr., says he will have a better sense of conditions within a few months if he is confirmed. “I’ve either been deployed to Afghanistan or supported the effort from various duty positions in the United States and Europe”.

“We’re not trying to create a Western-style society here”, Nicholson said. His father, retired Army Brig.

Nicholson said it will “take some time” before the Afghanistan security forces are self-sustaining militarily. His uncle, retired Army Col. Jim Nicholson, served as VA secretary under President George W. Bush.

“They view it as a matter of pride to defend themselves”, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Officials from the Senate Armed Services Committee said they’ve been planning the hearing for several weeks, in part because of the importance of the post and its oversight of the now 14-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.

Nicholson served three tours in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012.

Nicholson, a 1982 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a career infantry officer, is now commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation s Allied Land Command, headquartered at Izmir, Turkey. “An argument for (troop) capacity in Afghanistan would be simply the fact that there are many more al Qaida, Pakistan, Taliban, Haqqani in your area of operations”. It was not clear what General Campbell would do next.

For almost 18 months, Campbell has given his all to the mission as the top commander in Afghanistan, Cook said.

Nicholson said he supported the decision to retain the 9,800 American troops and he agreed with Campbell s approach. That number is set to fall to about 5,500 at the end of this year or in early 2017.

Critical of the Af-Pak policy of the Obama Administration, McCain also demanded an immediately halt to USA troop withdrawals and eliminate any target date for withdrawal. But the question matched a seemingly unanimous sentiment from members of the committee who spoke Thursday that a premature USA withdrawal from Afghanistan is unwise, and that the situation on the ground may require looser restrictions or even more troops. Though Gen. Nicholson didn’t totally abandon the notion of a pullout, he suggested he would conduct his own assessment before making any recommendations.

There has been no change in the drawdown plan, Cook said.

The spokesman said Defense Secretary Ash Carter was “absolutely confident” in the man Obama meant to nominate to succeed Gen. John Campbell.