As public support for the Afghan war rapidly falls in NATO countries, the head of the alliance has stepped up efforts to keep member-states united.
On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke before a meeting with alliance defense ministers in Bratislava on a new approach against the widening Taliban insurgency.
"We all have to achieve more in training and equipping the Afghan security forces," Rasmussen told a security conference before the ministers' meeting in the Slovak capital, which is not expected to announce decisions on troop levels.
Meanwhile, Canada's former top general has said that the setbacks in Afghanistan have greatly damaged NATO's credibility.
Almost eight years on, a continued lack of focus and resolve in Afghanistan will be NATO's undoing, retired general and former Canadian chief of defense staff Rick Hillier warned in a new book.
Hillier wrote in his autobiography, to be published next week, that "Afghanistan has revealed that NATO has reached the stage where it is a corpse, decomposing" and in need of "lifesaving" otherwise "the alliance will be done."
He said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is vulnerable to "any major setback" in Afghanistan and faces extinction unless it can "snatch victory out of feeble efforts."
In the book, "A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War," Hillier says no Western country had predicted an Afghan resurgence following the early success of the US invasion in 2001.
When Hillier took command of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) years later, "It was crystal clear from the start that there was no strategy for the mission in Afghanistan," he wrote.
"NATO had started down a road that destroyed much of its credibility and in the end eroded support for the mission in every nation in the alliance. Sadly years later, that situation remains unchanged," Hillier wrote
Canada is out by 2012, Australia 2012 (although just this week I caught the news that Australia is considering "accelerating" their withdrawal pace), Spain is out "within five years," Italy "as soon as possible", the Dutch will start withdrawing "from July 2010," ditto Denmark. Seems to be a trend. As far as I can see, only the German chancellor Merkel has indicated that the troops stay, as French President Sarkozy seems to merely playing for time.
So if the US President makes the decision to send more troops to fight in the Afghan civil war and requests start flying for other NATO members to please match, who will answer that call?
__________________ One achieves little honour if one invades another country, which has done us no harm, with force and injustice, if one rapes and burns, kills and pillages those who only wished to live in peace. It would do us greater honour if our forefathers had always been peaceful and meek, if they had been content with all the things God had given them, instead of robbing and raping others. -- Olaus Petri
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Cannons and fire-arms are cruel and damnable machines; I believe them to have been the direct suggestion of the Devil. If Adam had seen in a vision the horrible instruments his children were to invent, he would have died of grief. -- Martin Luther
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Australia isn't in NATO < Staff edit >
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Last edited by Hisbygrace; 26th October 2009 at 01:20 PM.
Reason: Staff edit
Canada is out by 2012, Australia 2012 (although just this week I caught the news that Australia is considering "accelerating" their withdrawal pace), Spain is out "within five years," Italy "as soon as possible", the Dutch will start withdrawing "from July 2010," ditto Denmark. Seems to be a trend. As far as I can see, only the German chancellor Merkel has indicated that the troops stay, as French President Sarkozy seems to merely playing for time.
So if the US President makes the decision to send more troops to fight in the Afghan civil war and requests start flying for other NATO members to please match, who will answer that call?
I'd say none of them except Australia which has always been cowardly and subservient with regards to going along with US action.
No change then. Afghanistan has seen off plenty of foreign invaders from Alexander the Great through to the British Empire a couple of times, and more recently the Soviets. Afghanistan doesn't change, we just forget that we can't crack it, and try again and fail again.
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No change then. Afghanistan has seen off plenty of foreign invaders from Alexander the Great through to the British Empire a couple of times, and more recently the Soviets. Afghanistan doesn't change, we just forget that we can't crack it, and try again and fail again.
Actually Afghanistan does change. These invasions just keep destroying whatever the country has gained since the last invasion.
No change then. Afghanistan has seen off plenty of foreign invaders from Alexander the Great through to the British Empire a couple of times, and more recently the Soviets. Afghanistan doesn't change, we just forget that we can't crack it, and try again and fail again.
The problems/unraveling of NATO in Afghanistan does not have to mean that the "international community" will throw up arms in Afghanistan and abandon the poor people back to their own devices. Hopefully it will mean a clear shift from bombs to earnest building of the civil society. At least that's the talk in my neighbourhood these days. Instead of being slowly dragged into the Afghan civil war as active participants, additional troops and resources should move away from supporting war and focus on supporting & building peace and the civil society. I.e. instead of fighting someone else's fight, more focus should be on training & equipping the Afghan security forces, army and police. If the poorest of poor security situation in Afghanistan gets in the way, then why not bring them over here for training, the same way Iraqi security forces got their training in neighbouring Jordan. Like this: Afghan soldiers practice use of field artillery in Finland
The Afghan side have long complained the lack of trust. On one hand the US/Western powers demand "results," that the Afghans start taking more responsibility of their own security and fighting the anti-government forces, while at the same time denying the Afghans the necessary equipment -- those shiny new 21st century killing machines that "our" side uses --to do so, in a blatant show of lacking trust.
If "we" do not accept the Afghans as equal partners in this with equal stakes in peaceful and stable Afghanistan and treat them with trust, how are we ever going to win their hearts and minds?
__________________ One achieves little honour if one invades another country, which has done us no harm, with force and injustice, if one rapes and burns, kills and pillages those who only wished to live in peace. It would do us greater honour if our forefathers had always been peaceful and meek, if they had been content with all the things God had given them, instead of robbing and raping others. -- Olaus Petri
I am resolving now never to hold rancor, however justified it might be, toward a group of people, whatever their race, religion, conviction, prejudices, errors. -- Irčne Némirovsky
Cannons and fire-arms are cruel and damnable machines; I believe them to have been the direct suggestion of the Devil. If Adam had seen in a vision the horrible instruments his children were to invent, he would have died of grief. -- Martin Luther
Last edited by Hisbygrace; 26th October 2009 at 01:21 PM.
Reason: Thread cleanup
The Battle of Ar Mageddon continues to develop. The opening shot was fired on 9/11 when the Euphrates was dry. (see Revelation 16:12-16)
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