Lt Gen John Nicholson, Obama’s pick as new commander in Afghanistan, hinted to senators that he would increase troop numbers to curb Isis and al-Qaida

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The general chosen by Barack Obama to command the Afghanistan war through the end of his presidency has signaled an intention to intensify counter-terrorism efforts and re-evaluate the schedule for troop reductions.



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Army Lieutenant General John Nicholson told the Senate armed services committee on Thursday that stopping the growth of the Islamic State and the re-emergence of al-Qaida in the theater of America’s longest war will be his “first and foremost” priority.

“We need to have an adequate counter-terrorist force in place,” Nicholson told a panel that bluntly expressed skepticism, on a bipartisan basis, at the wisdom of Obama’s plans to bequeath a force of 5,500 troops in Afghanistan to his successor.

Nicholson said he expected to re-evaluate the size of the US troop presence in Afghanistan within 90 days of assuming command. While he did not explicitly criticize Obama’s drawdown plans, unlike current commander John Campbell, Nicholson indicated his inclination toward a more aggressive US posture, citing the rise of Isis in Nangarhar and al-Qaida in Kandahar.

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

Counter-terrorism raids by US special operations forces were a staple of the war throughout 2015, despite Obama’s declaration that the US combat mission has ended. Some of those operations have been cloaked in the training of Afghan forces, such as a mission that produced a US troop death.

Nicholson conceded that 2015 had brought more tactical setbacks than anticipated. He also signaled that US combat airpower might be necessary to fill a “gap” faced by an Afghan military.

Nicholson praised Afghan troops as “born fighters,” but said building aspects of the Afghan military was slow work, especially its air force and casualty evacuation capabilities.

“Although we’ve seen improvements ... in some areas we have years to go, in particular the aviation area,” Nicholson said.

Even Democratic senators effectively urged Nicholson to look past the White House and recommend troop increases if deemed necessary.

“They may want to shoo you into a five [thousand troop] number but if the number’s 14, the number’s 14,” said Senator Joe Donnelly, an Indiana Democrat.



Nicholson’s testimony comes amid vast uncertainty over the course of the war. 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 US special forces dead and wounded. Some estimates hold that the US-backed government controls, at most, 70% of the country.

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. Outgoing commander John Campbell, in his final congressional testimony last October, bluntly and publicly criticized Obama’s withdrawal plans.

Trial balloons in the press coming from the command now propose a formally open-ended US military presence lasting a generation, modeled on far different US experiences in South Korea or Colombia.

Like most senior army officers, Nicholson, who is known by his nickname as “Mick”, is no stranger to Afghanistan. He served in command roles in the country, including in the volatile south and in a staff position in Kabul. In the early days of the Obama administration he was the Pentagon’s chief officer for coordinating all its planning efforts for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Senator Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, said Nicholson’s cumulative service in Afghanistan, of three and a half years, made him the officer with the most experience in the war-torn country. He also has more than four years’ experience in senior Nato roles.

Nicholson’s nomination continues a recent tradition of turning over top war commanders after a year or 18 months, something some in defense circles say accustoms the military to stalemate. He faces little internal opposition on the Senate panel and will gain his fourth star if his nomination passes the full chamber.

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Although Nicholson’s nomination was only announced on Wednesday, the unusually rapid hearing, sources said, was unrelated to either Campbell’s contradiction of Obama or the October US airstrike on a Médécins Sans Frontiers hospital in Kunduz that the organization has called tantamount to a war crime.

His hearing lasted an unusually short 90 minutes and reflected a sense that the next president will inherit the same flailing war effort Obama did.

John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the armed services committee, said it was time to “immediately halt US troop withdrawals and eliminate any target date for withdrawal”.

Nicholson said the Afghans still retained lead fighting responsibility against the Taliban but pledged not to allow associated forces to overrun the southern city of Kandahar. US forces, he said, would be able to strike Isis in Afghanistan without restriction.

While not explicitly endorsing a generational presence in Afghanistan, Nicholson said it was prudent to maintain an “enduring” US troop force as part of a “global” counter-terrorism posture.

“We do need to think about an enduring commitment to the Afghans,” he said.