TAMPA —
U.S. Central Command will get a new boss in a change of command ceremony scheduled for March 22, according to a Centcom official.
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Lloyd Austin has been named by President Barack Obama to run the command, which oversees U.S. military efforts in most of the Middle East and parts of Southwest Asia and is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base.
Austin, who faces a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, is widely respected and considered a shoo-in to be confirmed. He will replace the outgoing commander, Marine Gen. James Mattis, who took over the command in 2010.
Austin, who led the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, will take over as American troop levels in Afghanistan are being drastically reduced ahead of a planned 2014 pullout of the bulk of U.S. forces.
During his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Obama announced that 34,000 of the remaining 66,000 troops in Afghanistan will come home by the end of this year.
It appears that beyond 2014, special operations forces will take the lead in continuing efforts to help the Afghans defend themselves against the Taliban. Still, the entire 20-nation central command region remains a dangerous place.
Iran is suspected of working toward creating nuclear weapons and is causing trouble in the region, tens of thousands of Syrians have died in an ongoing civil war that threatens to embroil its neighbors, Egypt is in turmoil and U.S. forces are battling elements of al-Qaida in Yemen.
In an interview with The Tampa Tribune in December, John Abizaid, a retired Army general who was the longest-serving Centcom commander from 2003 until 2007, lauded Austin, whose confirmation would make him the first black Centcom commander.
“I can’t think of anyone better prepared to do this job,” said Abizaid, who has known Austin since the two were together at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in the mid-1970s.
“At West Point, I was his cadet squad leader,” Abizaid said. “He was a great young man. Smart, capable. I think the world of him both as an officer and a human being.”
In an email to the Tribune, Mattis said he “will head west to go fishing. Fish tremble at the news that I’m coming after them.”