Afghanistan: "Start winning the war. "

The Commander,  NBC Nightly News, 7:00 PM, Jim Maceda, Dec 17, 2008.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: On our last trip to Afghanistan, we heard it often from the soldiers on the ground. They didn’t like what it was called, the “Other War,” or even worse the “Forgotten War.” They’re in a tough fight there. President Obama will inherit it. He has vowed to pump more soldiers in. He’ll have help in improving the situation there from the point man on the ground in that war, Gen. John Nicholson, a man with one of the toughest jobs in the U.S. military.

Our own Jim Maceda spent some time with Nicholson in Kandahar Province.

JIM MACEDA: He rolls through town like a new sheriff getting used to the neighborhood, but this is the very heart of Taliban country.

REPORTER: So have you had suicide bomber attacks recently in Kandahar City?

MACEDA: Gen. John Nicholson is the first and only U.S. general in Southern Afghanistan and his orders are as clear as they are daunting: start winning the war.

BRIG. GEN. JOHN NICHOLSON [U.S. Army]: We are now going to be able to secure the vast majority of the population in the south and deliver the basic services through the government that they were unable to do this point.

MACEDA: He’s already expanding bases with a 15,000-20,000 additional U.S. troops expected in the coming year, effectively doubling NATO’s punch in the crucial south.

NICHOLSON: We will see more U.S. forces and more U.S. investment in Southern Afghanistan, which will be a game changer.

This will be the first of many visits here –

MACEDA: As much nation-builder as warrior, Nicholson’s day is a whirlwind of meetings with USAID officials, visiting lawmakers, and Afghan leaders. The boss still surprises his longtime military assistant.

MAJ. FRED TANNER [U.S. Army]: His ability – whoever he’s engaging with to be able to think at their level, you know, whether that be a congressman or be a company commander.

MACEDA: But the 51-year-old West Point grad with two Masters Degrees knows how tough victory will be. In 2006, we embedded with then Col. Nicholson and his brigade in Eastern Afghanistan coming under ambush, trying to flush out the Taliban from the Pakistan border. The Taliban was relentless. By the end of that tour, his unit had lost 45 men and 350 wounded – the highest U.S. toll in the war.

NICHOLSON: For me, there’s a moral obligation to my soldiers who’ve sacrificed so much here to come back and deliver on what they started.

MACEDA: And there’s something else.

NICHOLSON: I believe I was spared on 9/11 to do my duty here in Afghanistan.

MACEDA: The plane that struck the Pentagon on 9/11 destroyed his office, killing his closest colleagues. Nicholson should have been there, but instead was moving into a house that day with his family.

NICHOLSON: I’m grateful to have that purpose.

MACEDA: But with Taliban attacks and government corruption on the rise, Nicholson says he’s no Mr. Fixit.

NICHOLSON: You know, Mr. Fixit would imply that I had all the answers, but I certainly don’t.

MACEDA: What he does have is a mission to turn around a war he can’t walk away from.

Jim Maceda, NBC News, Kandahar.