Pentagon announces pick for United States commander in Afghanistan

The current commander of the USA and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell said a year ago that the loyalists of the terror group are attempting to establish a regional base in Jalalabad, the capital city of eastern Nangarhar province.

Nicholson would succeed Gen. John F. Campbell, who is expected to retire.

“Although we’ve seen improvements… in some areas we have years to go, in particular the aviation area”, Nicholson told senior USA lawmakers at a confirmation hearing.

Senator John McCain, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked Nicholson if he agreed that the overall security situation in Afghanistan was worsening.

While Nicholson was careful to not advocate for an open-ended presence in Afghanistan, he placed the continued American presence there within the context of an “enduring” and “global” counterterrorism mission.

The defense secretary believes Nicholson will build upon Campbell’s hard work to “secure a bright future for the Afghan people, and help the government of Afghanistan strengthen a professional and capable security partner to the American people”, Cook said, adding that the secretary thanks Campbell for his extraordinary leadership and dedication to the mission in Afghanistan.

Nicholson, a 1982 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a career infantry officer, is now commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, headquartered at Izmir, Turkey.

“Because of that, we did not make the advances we projected we thought we would make”, he said.

During Wednesday, Cook said so far there had been no change in the drawdown plan though the pace of reducing down 9,800 troops to 5,500 “will be determined by commanders on the ground”.

There are now about 9,800 USA soldiers in Afghanistan.

Army Lt. General John W. Nicholson Jr. speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill on January 28, 2016.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry announced Thursday that representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States will meet in the Pakistani capital Islamabad next month to discuss how to resume the stalled peace process between Kabul and the Taliban. In Afghanistan, where he has spent three and a half years, he has been the chief of staff of operations for the allied forces and a deputy commander for the southern part of the country. “Nor will any politician be able to schedule an end to the threat of radical Islamist terrorism emanating from Afghanistan or the region more broadly”. He has served several tours of duty in Afghanistan and also commanded the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment and the 82nd Airborne Division.