US builds new command center in Khandahar

Sunday Times:

THE United States is building a command structure in Kandahar that will sideline the British general who takes command of southern Afghanistan in May.

Brigadier-General John Nicholson, a senior American officer who previously served in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division, has already arrived in Kandahar to oversee the Afghan “surge”.

Although technically he will be subordinate to the British general who takes command in May, he will in reality have control of all US troops, UK defence sources said last week.

Nicholson’s bombproof, rocket-proof command centre will dwarf the British general’s headquarters, which ostensibly controls operations across southern Afghanistan.

The takeover will be complete by the autumn of next year when the US will assume permanent control of the south, which at present rotates between the British, Canadians and Dutch. The move to sideline the British comes amid tensions between the two countries’ armies over what the Americans see as British military failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Although US officers say they have no problem with the British military itself, they are unhappy with the failure to put sufficient troops into Helmand and the lack of reconstruction.

One British defence source said the US was concerned that the UK was “trying to do everything on the cheap” and moving towards a more “European” position along with countries such as Germany and Spain, which have proved reluctant to provide troops.

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The British approach in Helmand has not been successful. You could see an immediate contrast when US Marines were sent to the area. Their aggressiveness had an immediate effect and clearly surprised the Taliban who were used to the more laid back approach of the Brits. In recent weeks the British forces have gone on the offensive and pushed the Taliban out of several key areas.