Cardiff University alumnus Sir David Richards will succeed General Sir Richard Dannatt as Chief of General Staff in the army in August 2009.
Sir Richards studied Politics and Economics at the University before going on to serve with the Royal Artillery.
He was in charge of the 37-nation International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2007 and is the current Commander-in-Chief of Land Forces.
In an interview with the BBC last week, the outspoken former NATO commander called for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan – although not necessarily from the UK.
“I think militarily there is a case for more troops, they don’t all have to come by any means from the UK,” he said.
“NATO ISAF nations between them have a large number of troops, so I think perhaps we would be looking at others in the first instance.”
The government has previously said it does not intend to increase the number of British troops in Afghanistan.
Sir Richard’s predecessor General Sir Richard Dannatt became unpopular with the government after some very public criticisms of the strain the conflict in Iraq was putting on the army and his concern over poor pay.
However, Richards has been similarly critical of government policy. It was reported that he privately believes that a “surge” of 30,000 troops is needed to fight the Taliban, with 5,000 from the UK and the rest from the US and the newly trained Afghan army.
Sir David Richard’s new appointment is expected to last for two or three years.
