The Pentagon has appointed Lt. Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller as the next commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan, the ninth US general to lead in the 17-year war, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Senior military officials told the Journal that Miller has replaced current commander Gen. John Nicholson, who has been in charge of the Afghan war since March 2016.
Miller will be the first commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan appointed under President Trump.
The three-star general has spent the past two years in charge of the military’s Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees the elite Special Mission Units. Those units include the Navy’s SEAL Team Six and the Army’s Delta Force, which perform highly classified activities.
Miller has also served in operations in Bosnia and Somalia and multiple combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Trump, in August, revealed a new plan for Afghanistan that includes sending about 4,000 additional troops to the country to help end the stalemate there. The extra forces brings the number of American troops in the country, who are meant to provide military assistance, to about 14,000.
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