John W. Nicholson Jr.

John William "Mick" Nicholson Jr. (born May 8, 1957) is a retired United States Army four-star general who last commanded U.S. Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A) and the 41-nation NATO-led Resolute Support Mission from March 2, 2016, to September 2, 2018, succeeding General John F. Campbell. He was the longest-serving commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan until 2021, having been the senior officer in theatre for 2 years, 6 months. He was previously commanding general, Allied Land Command from October 2014 and commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. Nicholson is the son of John W. "Jack" Nicholson, also a retired general officer in the United States Army, and is distantly related to British brigadier general John Nicholson.

Early life and education

Growing up, Nicholson attended Gilman School where he was known as "Nick". Over the years, this nickname gradually became "Mick". In 1982, he graduated from West Point (like his father had before him) and was commissioned into the infantry.

Career

Shortly after his commissioning, he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne and deployed during the invasion of Grenada in 1983 where he earned a Bronze Star Medal with "V" device.

Nicholson was a strategist for General Eric Shinseki when the 9/11 attacks occurred. He went on to serve in Afghanistan for six years. He commanded companies in the 82nd Airborne Division and the 75th Ranger Regiment. He was a major in the 3rd Infantry Division in Germany and later served in IFOR/ SFOR in Sarajevo, Bosnia Hercegovina. As a lieutenant colonel he commanded the Army's first Stryker Infantry Battalion, 1st Bn 23rd Infantry “Tomahawks”, at Fort Lewis Washington. As a colonel, he commanded the 3rd Brigade Combat Team “Spartans” of the 10th Mountain Division.

Nicholson was the deputy director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. He became commander of the 82nd Airborne Division in 2012. In 2014 Nicholson took control of the NATO Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey.

Commander in Afghanistan

Nicholson was the longest-serving commander of the War in Afghanistan, having led the 41-nation NATO-led Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces-Afghanistan for two and a half years from March 2016 to September 2018. Nicholson told the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2016 that "Since 9/11, the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan has largely defined my service." He assumed command from General John F. Campbell on March 2, 2016. Nicholson was given command of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, amid a worsening security situation. Nicholson apologized in person for U.S. involvement in the Kunduz hospital airstrike.

His command spanned the Obama and Trump administrations. During the final year of the Obama administration in 2016, the U.S. conducted a strike in Pakistan which killed the Taliban Emir Mullah Mansoor, made more extensive use of U.S. air support to Afghan forces, and received an increase in US force levels at the close of 2016.

In April 2017, he authorized the dropping of the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), the largest non-nuclear munition in the US inventory, on an ISIS strongpoint in the Pekha Valley of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. Afghan ground forces requested the airstrike when they were unable to enter the area because of IS attacks from multiple tunnels. The MOAB destroyed the IS strongpoint and enabled a successful offensive push deep into IS-held terrain.

During the first eight months of the Trump Administration in 2017, his recommendations were incorporated into the South Asia Strategy which was announced by President Trump on 17 Aug 2017. The strategy resulted in a pressure campaign on the enemy and their sponsors.

On September 2, 2018, Nicholson relinquished command of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission to General Austin Scott Miller at a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan. At the ceremony, Nicholson was praised as a “warrior-diplomat”. His leadership and close relations with Afghan leaders were key to brokering the first universal ceasefire of the war in June 2018 and helped enable the launch of the subsequent peace initiative.

Nicholson has testified before the following Congressional Committees: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Senate Armed Services Committee. He participated in numerous sessions of the NATO North Atlantic Council, to include the Ambassadors to NATO, Chiefs of Defense, Defense Ministers, Foreign Ministers, and Heads of State of the Alliance.

In 2017, as the commanding general in Afghanistan, Nicholson, drew attention when he said in a press conference that his command “continued to get reports of” Russian assistance to the Taliban, including weapons — something that was the subject of internal debate within the intelligence community at the time but appears to have been validated by media reporting in July 2020.

Post-military career

Nicholson is an adjunct faculty member on leadership with Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School and is a member of Harvard's Belfer Center's Elbe Group, which sustains a Track Two dialogue between retired American and Russian senior officials in the military and intelligence fields.

In April 2019, Nicholson joined the PenFed Foundation for Military Heroes as its president.

On May 12, 2019, Nicholson received the Knight Commander's Cross, Great Cross with Star on the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift from then Germany Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen.

On May 18, 2019, Nicholson gave the commencement address to the 2019 graduating class of Institute of World Politics and received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law.

On June 17, 2019, Nicholson was given an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the American University of Afghanistan alongside David M. Rubenstein

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