The Obama administration’s nominee for the next commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan told lawmakers on Thursday that he would need at least 90 days to evaluate whether the military should proceed with the planned drawdown from 9,800 to 5,500 U.S. troops.
Army Lt. Gen. John Nicholson testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee in a confirmation hearing scheduled less than 24 hours after he was tapped for the post of commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. Nicholson is currently commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command in Turkey, and if confirmed, will replace Army Gen. John F. Campbell.
“I think after the initial 90 days, I will have a good sense of where we are…and of course, if confirmed, the chance to do some more thorough discussions with General Campbell about the team on the ground,” he said.
The current plan calls for holding 9,800 troops in Afghanistan for the majority of the year, but a decision must be made early in 2016 to be able to make logistical preparations necessary for moving people and equipment out of the country, he added.
Several lawmakers, including SASC Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), took the hearing as an opportunity to blast the Obama administration’s strategy in Afghanistan, saying they were skeptical that the planned drawdown was motivated by mission effectiveness.
“Given that we’ve made this announcement, I want to understand what’s the military rationale for reducing our force posture by 44 percent and announcing that in a year advance, and what is it that we won’t be able to do when we go down to 5,500?” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.).
A decrease from 9,800 to 5,500 troops will leave U.S. servicemembers less safe and likely only able to conduct either the counterterrorism or the advise, train and equip mission, but not both, McCain said in his opening statement.
“The risks to American forces only grow worse as the terrorist threat in Afghanistan intensifies. We are now confronting threats from a resurgent Taliban, a reviving al-Qaeda, and a rising ISIL,” he said, using one of the acronyms for the Islamic State. “ISIL’s sanctuary in Syria has been deadly enough. We cannot afford another one in Afghanistan.”
Nicholson agreed with McCain that the situation in Afghanistan was deteriorating, and noted that there that the Afghan military is still dependent on U.S. support in several mission areas, including intelligence, casualty treatment and evacuation, indirect fire and fire support, and air support from both rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
“Although we’ve seen improvements and steady growth in all these areas…in some areas we have years to go, in particular the aviation area,” said Nicholson, who added that he could not predict how the drawdown would affect the U.S. military’s ability to support those missions.
Even if the drawdown proceeds, the military needs to be able to accomplish both its counterterrorism and advise, equip and train missions in Afghanistan, he said. “What I would like to be able to do in my first 90 days is take a relook at that and what is necessary, what amount of capability is necessary given the current conditions.”