US Navy Admiral James Stavridis to head NATO Command

19 March 2009

Washington: The Obama administration has cleared the appointment of a new top commander for NATO, amongst a number of other military appointments. The new appointee is US Navy Admiral James Stavridis, currently head of the US Southern Command, which oversees US military operations in Latin America.

The new appointee will take charge even as the new administration in Washington tries to encourage reluctant NATO members into accepting a larger role in the war in Afghanistan.

The Obama administration has decided to shift the focus of its efforts in the war against global terror from Iraq to Afghanistan. This it intends to do by upgrading its own presence in that land-locked country through increased troop strength and equipment and also by urging NATO allies to shoulder their own share of what is threatening to become a very protracted engagement.

The Taliban insurgency has been gaining in strength and the steadily rising levels of violence in the mountainous country has been causing alarm in European nations. A large number of these nations were never really convinced about armed intervention in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Adm Stavridis was previously the senior military assistant to Donald Rumsfeld when he was heading the Pentagon under president George W Bush.

"Admiral Stavridis has done a spectacular job at SOUTHCOM in strengthening our military-to-military relationships throughout Latin America," Gates said. "I think it's a challenging job, and I think he has done it extraordinarily well."