NATO Members Considering Withdrawals From Afghanistan

Why are members of NATO considering withdrawals from Afghanistan? That's the war that everyone supposedly backs and understands that al Qaeda and Taliban elements used Afghanistan to plot and plan terrorist attacks against the West and used that territory as a safe haven.

Are NATO's European countries so strapped for troops that they cannot sustain a lengthy commitment abroad? Are they stretched so thin that they cannot hold to their word?

The US is threatening to shift its own troops in Kosovo to Afghanistan as a result of the troop demands to fight and defeat Taliban elements that continue to pose a threat in Afghanistan.

Unless European countries can commit more forces and equipment without delay, America will begin to withdraw troops from Kosovo, the troubled province of Serbia, and transfer them to Afghanistan, Mr. Gates will announce.

The Canadians, the Dutch, and, since the election of a new prime minister yesterday, the Poles have all expressed their intention of withdrawing, reducing, or reallocating their military personnel from the Afghan front line, to the frustration of the American, British, and Australian administrations, whose forces largely bear the brunt of the fierce fighting with the Taliban.

Mr. Gates expressed his frustration at the Europeans' apparent lack of commitment to the Afghan cause yesterday at a meeting of southeastern European defense ministers in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where he was trying to persuade the new pro-Western government of Ukraine to send forces to Afghanistan.

"I am not satisfied that an alliance with members who have over 2 million soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen cannot find the modest additional resources that have been committed for Afghanistan," Mr. Gates told journalists.

Mr. Gates's appeal for more troops and matériel to fight the Taliban will be repeated tomorrow by the secretary-general of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, at the two-day meeting in Noordwijk, Netherlands, where representatives of the alliance's 37 nations will discuss the future of the 41,000 troops serving in Afghanistan.

European countries are unwilling or unable to sustain any significant military operations around the world, and they needed the US to enter the fray in Kosovo to do something about the ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses in their own backyard before they did anything. Expecting them to act half a world away is too much to ask.

The Europeans are lacking the willpower and the material equipment to sustain a lengthy fight against a determined foe. Those that have forces in Afghanistan are not taking the fight to the Taliban/al Qaeda elements, but instead sitting back and holding ground, which is enabling the Taliban and al Qaeda to make gains or regroup. By concerning themselves with minimizing their own casualties, they are allowing al Qaeda and Taliban elements to make inroads in previously secured areas, or requiring the US, British, or Aussie contingents to pick up the slack even as they remain on the offensive.

This bodes poorly for European security, which once again is heavily reliant on the US for its security - at home and abroad.

I further suspect that the actual number of forces that is mission capable is far less than the 2 million men claimed. That those forces are stretched thin by the Afghan deployment suggests that the Europeans have not committed enough funds to their own security.

UPDATE:
Now consider the preceding story in light of the situation in Pakistan and the NWFP. Bill Roggio has the details, and recall just how easy it is for the Taliban and al Qaeda to cross the border between the two countries to evade and avoid detection and attack.

If NATO is cutting back the number of troops it makes available in Afghanistan, someone will have to pick up the slack so that the US, British, Aussie and Afghan forces can maintain the offensive against the Taliban elements that continue to stream in from Warizistan and the NWFP. The troop drawdown can and will affect the ability to maintain the offensive there.