Afghanistan deputy up for reappointment - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Afghanistan deputy up for reappointment

Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez has been nominated for reappointment to lieutenant general and assignment in Afghanistan as commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command for Operation Enduring Freedom, and as deputy commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan.

Rodriguez, an infantry officer, has extensive experience in the Middle East combat theater, having served nearly four years in senior command positions in Iraq, and for the past three years in Afghanistan as commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76, deputy commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, and since October as commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command.

In the later post, Rodriguez has overseen day-to-day combat operations in theater.

If confirmed for reappointment, as expected, Rodriguez’s operations responsibilities will continue as the surge of some 30,000 additional forces into Afghanistan builds over the next few months.

Command and staff visits to Afghanistan

In other Afghanistan news, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey has issued a directive barring routine command and staff visits to Afghanistan “until further notice.”

The approval authority for exceptions to the directive is Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli.

Advance party visits by units pending deployment to Afghanistan will continue but must be routed through U.S. Forces Afghanistan headquarters for approval.

A Pentagon official said directives such as this are occasionally issued, based on events in theater, such as elections and unit rotations that stir operational requirements for forces and commanders.

The current directive is expected to stay in effect until June and is designed to ensure that personnel and resources already in theater are available to support the surge of soldiers and supplies into Afghanistan this spring`.