A report in The Times indicates that tempers are flaring among some NATO members in response to angry demands by US defense secretary Robert Gates for them to contribute soldiers to the combat zone of southern Afghanistan.
"An unusually stern letter from Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, to his German counterpart about the role of Germany’s troops in Afghanistan caused anger not just in Berlin but elsewhere in the alliance.
Washington has taken the lead in putting pressure on Nato with a warning that the credibility of the alliance is at stake. But Mr Gates’s latest intervention seems likely to cause more division.
His letter to Franz Josef Jung, the German Defence Minister, went to the heart of the problem that has faced Nato since its mission expanded throughout Afghanistan, and in particular to the southern provinces where the Taleban are concentrated.
German diplomatic sources said the letter from Mr Gates had been harsh, although they would not divulge the contents. Mr Jung replied in similar mode with a “direct and stern” letter to Mr Gates, according to Suddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper.
The whole question of burden-sharing in Afghanistan — in particular sharing the burden of combat — is due to come up at Nato’s next summit in Bucharest in April. One Nato diplomat said: “I think Mr Gates’s intervention is more about domestic politics than anything else but sometimes I wonder whether the US realises the negative impact these spats have outside America.”
"An unusually stern letter from Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, to his German counterpart about the role of Germany’s troops in Afghanistan caused anger not just in Berlin but elsewhere in the alliance.
Washington has taken the lead in putting pressure on Nato with a warning that the credibility of the alliance is at stake. But Mr Gates’s latest intervention seems likely to cause more division.
His letter to Franz Josef Jung, the German Defence Minister, went to the heart of the problem that has faced Nato since its mission expanded throughout Afghanistan, and in particular to the southern provinces where the Taleban are concentrated.
German diplomatic sources said the letter from Mr Gates had been harsh, although they would not divulge the contents. Mr Jung replied in similar mode with a “direct and stern” letter to Mr Gates, according to Suddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper.
The whole question of burden-sharing in Afghanistan — in particular sharing the burden of combat — is due to come up at Nato’s next summit in Bucharest in April. One Nato diplomat said: “I think Mr Gates’s intervention is more about domestic politics than anything else but sometimes I wonder whether the US realises the negative impact these spats have outside America.”
The Guardian reports that the dispute has gotten so bad that Condoleeza Rice has been dispatched to Europe, "to tackle an escalating row over Nato troop reinforcements for Afghanistan, amid worries that the entire international stabilisation strategy is in danger of failing."
"Conservative MPs are starting to question the wisdom of continuing to support the president [Karzai]. Ministers are braced for another critical report from the Commons international development select committee amid concern that popular support for the war will start to wane, especially as Karzai adopts an increasingly independent view."
NATO is ill-suited to the role in Afghanistan now foisted on it by Washington. It was never intended to be America's Foreign Legion and the grousing of its member states isn't helped at all by the incompetence of the White House and Pentagon leadership. This is a particularly bad time to be asking countries like Germany to make commitments that could serve as obligational precedents when a presidential election looms that could see the United States take a sharply different course in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
I left this at Scott's DiaTribes. Hope I don't get any dead trouts being slapped at me from you, MOS.
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Why should the peace loving Germans and Norwegians step up to the plate and die for Canadians in Kandahar? Not even a supporter of France in its conduct of foreign policy, why should Sarkozy offer Harper and Manley a gesture in these killing fields?
It is not a question of Grit hawks or doves. We need to change our attitude towards military roles. Bosnia under Lewis Mackenzie was one in which Canadians punch much less powerful than the media and/or government made out to be. All this leads to Kandahar. We need to move from peacekeeping to nation building with a modernized army, sounds the clarion cry. The results there speak for themselves.
The NATO meeting in Vilnius in the next several days will need much attention to. Harper is going to strong arm the allies to supply the troops. My advice to Dion and Rae (he needs to stop posturing, IMO) is to give advance notice for the other countries to politely decline. At the same time, they should pay extra attention to the alternative proposals put forth from the other European countries so they can put forth an alternative to the Manley report recommendations for the party rank and file.
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Still think a new approach to NATO in Afghanistan is possible, as this article has demonstrated.
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2213740.ece
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