Top U.S. General In Afghanistan Believes That President Trump`s Strategy Will Make A Difference In The War Against The Taliban

U.S. Army General John W. Nicholson Jr., center, commander of Resolute Support forces and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, arrives during a transfer of authority ceremony April 29 at Shorab camp in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. (Reuters)

Washington Post: U.S. top military commander in Afghanistan finally gets his wish

KABUL — For months, Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr. made the case for an expanded U.S. military commitment to Afghanistan, telling skeptics that the faltering Afghan war was an urgent matter of American security, that the struggling Afghan government was a reliable partner, and that its defense forces just needed more time and U.S. support to become self-sufficient.

Last week, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan finally got his wish.

President Trump, who once advocated abandoning Afghanistan and in recent months questioned the fundamental premises of America’s costly 16-year military involvement here, has now publicly committed himself to a strategy that hews closely to the military plan Nicholson and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani hammered out in dozens of meetings this spring and summer.

Now, the burden will be on Nicholson, 61, a boyish-looking four-star general who has spent more time in Afghanistan than any other senior commander, to deliver on what many observers say may be an impossible mission. Its aim is to help Afghan forces turn around a stalemated conflict with the aid of a few thousand extra advisory troops — something his predecessors failed to do with more than 100,000 combat troops at the war’s peak.

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Update: ‘I believe in the Afghan people,’ says top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan (Washington Post).

WNU Editor: It is true that much has changed in Afghanistan since the U.S. led invasion in 2001. The Afghan army is better .... and they are fighting for their country. The Afghan government is also an ally of the U.S. .... and the president has made a commitment for change and reform. But it is also true that the Taliban have capitalised on the situation, and they appear to have broad support among many Afghans. The end result is a stalemate, and I fail to see how a few thousand extra U.S. soldiers can make a difference. And while Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr. is optimistic that this increase in U.S. military support will make a difference .... I do not see and/or understand how this can be so.