The U.S. Army commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation land forces has been selected to succeed Army Gen. John F. Campbell as the commander of U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon press secretary said today.
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Speaking to senior lawmakers at a confirmation hearing with the Senate Armed Service Committee, Nicholson praised Afghan troops as “born fighters”, but said building aspects of the Afghan military is slow work, especially its air force and casualty evacuation capabilities.
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. He noted that the general has served in multiple related capacities, including as chief of staff of operations for the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, as director of the Pakistan/Afghanistan coordination cell for the Joint Staff, and as deputy commander for stability in ISAF Regional Command South.
Gen. Nicholson also hinted at support for escalations of the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, talking up the idea of “right-sizing” the United States military presence in the nation instead of just continuing the planned drawdown.
“It is time to immediately halt USA troop withdrawals and eliminate any target date for withdrawal”.
Wary of total collapse, Obama will leave 5,500 troops in Afghanistan past his presidency, with substantive reductions from the current 9,800-troop force backloaded until his final days in office. “Indeed, our military commanders increasingly realize that preventing the reemergence of terrorist safe havens in Afghanistan will require a long-term partnership with Afghan government and military similar to the USA role in South Korea or Colombia”.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan according to a harsh version of Islamic law from 1996 until late 2001, when it was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion launched after the September 11, 2011 attacks. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information. Because of the volume of reader comments, we can not review individual moderation decisions with readers. “The difference with Afghanistan is we have a very capable and willing partner”.
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“Because of that, we did not make the advances we projected we thought we would make”, he said. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation. They want us there. But these suggestions should be sent To avoid distracting other readers, we won’t publish comments that suggest a correction.
