Obama’s next Afghanistan cmdr. to review troop number
America’s next choice for the leadership of US forces in Afghanistan has pledged to review a planned drawdown of troops over ‘security’ concerns.
Lieutenant General John Nicholson told a Senate hearing on Thursday that he will review President Barack Obama's withdrawal plan, which has already been slowed to address Afghanistan's struggle to blunt a still-resilient Taliban insurgency, Reuters reported.
The plan would cut American troop levels by nearly half by the start of next year.
Gen. Nicholson referred to the ‘deteriorating’ security in Afghanistan, saying he aimed to complete his review of the situation in Afghanistan within his first 90 days in command, if confirmed by Congress.
He also acknowledged gaps in Afghan military capabilities to fully address militancy.
Nicholson said the Taliban came at the Afghan forces "more intensely than perhaps we anticipated."
"Because of that, we did not make the advances we projected we thought we would make," he said.
Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said cutting US troop levels from 9,800 to 5,500 as planned, could undermine efforts to both bolster Afghan forces and combat al-Qaeda and ISIL militants.
"It's time to immediately halt US troop withdrawals and eliminate any target date for withdrawal," McCain said.
Nicholson said he agreed with plans by the outgoing commander, General John Campbell, to keep as many troops in Afghanistan for as long as possible before reducing them to 5,500 US troops, as ordered, by January 1, 2017.
But he also said preparations for that drawdown would need to start in the coming months.
A Pentagon report released last month said the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorated in the second half of 2015, with Taliban militants staging more attacks and inflicting far more casualties on Afghan forces.
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