Afghanistan commander pick has Fort Drum ties

Army Lt. Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., who will take Army Gen. John Campbell’s place and at the time a fourth star, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he will “re-look at” what is needed on the ground to fulfill the American counterterrorism and train, advise and assist missions. He supported the Obama administration’s exit strategy, which critics have derided as politically driven, while also promising the senators his decisions will be grounded in sound military strategy. “While many challenges remain, we have made gains over the past year that will put Afghanistan on a better path, and much of the credit for that progress rests with Gen Campbell”, Carter said.

“My priorities are to protect the USA homeland, and to enable Afghans to secure their country”, he said. Ghani took office in September 2014 and Campbell has said publicly that the new president’s approach to the war effort and that of his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, were like “night and day”, from the USA point of view. Al Qaeda is reestablishing itself in southern Afghanistan.

Responding to the question, Nicholson said it is hard to defeat the Taliban and Haqqani network when they enjoy terrorist safe haven, and as such, it is important to “enlist” Pakistan.

“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”.

Those comments provided fodder for committee members – both Republican and Democrat – to criticize White House plans to draw down American forces in Afghanistan by the end of the year.

The United States has had forces in Afghanistan since 2001.

“These are changes in conditions that I’ll need to evaluate, if we have the right amount of CT [counter-terrorism] capability”, Nicholson said.

The committee chairman, Sen. “Nor will any politician be able to schedule an end to the threat of radical extremist terrorism emanating from Afghanistan or the region more broadly”. He cited recent battlefield successes by the Taliban, which he said is being aided with weapons from Iran, and the presence of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. Later, he added, “This is Afghanistan”.

President Barack Obama in October announced that 9,800 us forces would remain in Afghanistan through most of 2016-backtracking on an earlier pledge to pull all but 1,000 USA troops from the country.

American involvement in the long Afghan war was supposed to come to a close by the end of the year, but an array of top Pentagon officials spent Thursday making clear that US troops will be fighting – and potentially dying – there for years to come.