Afstan: NATO shirkers

These Canadian headlines and excerpts say it all; if combat does not lessen over the next year in the south (and east), and if others don't cough up some fighting troops, the Alliance will be pretty close to bust. Maybe time to think of an Anglosphere coalition, plus any others like the Dutch and some central/east Europeans willing to help.

"Germany dodges call for troops" (full text subscriber only)

Canada's anger before the summit has mostly been directed at Germany.

The reason may be partially explained by a story published yesterday on Der Spiegel's website.

The German news magazine reported that Berlin had refused several requests for its forces to come to the aid of NATO's embattled warriors in the south during the Canadian-led Operation Medusa in late August and early September. The missions Germany wanted no part of included deploying a medevac aircraft to the base where Canadians were located in Kandahar, allowing a drone aircraft to be used for reconnaissance of the area and having its special forces commandos deployed as forward air controllers to direct airstrikes against the Taliban across the south, the weekly said...

"NATO needs more soldiers in Afghanistan, former general says"

Earlier Wednesday, NATO leaders meeting in Europe agreed that more support would be provided to the soldiers on the ground, and some of the troops already there who are restricted in their operations would be allowed to be sent into danger zones.

The additional support includes fighter planes, helicopters, several infantry companies and training teams, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said...

Soldiers from NATO members such as France, Germany and Italy, who are already on the ground but deployed in the calmer north and often under restrictions which keep them away from the fighting, will be able to move in emergencies...

"Canadians still will do `heavy lifting' in Afghanistan, Hillier says"

"Limited success convincing NATO to help in southern Afghanistan"

Yesterday in Riga, reporters were told that three of the NATO members would be stepping up their efforts in Afghanistan. but which three were not named.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus said his country would add 75 more soldiers next year, reaching a total of 225...

"More words than help from NATO"

"Canada can't fight alone"

...countries with modern, well-equipped militaries, such as France and Germany and Italy, are not only restricting their troops to working in the relatively peaceable north of Afghanistan, they're tut-tutting about our warlike insistence on shooting back at insurgents who are shooting at us.

At a two-day summit in Riga, Latvia, this week, Canada insisted that our allies need to help. Little good it did. The closest they'll come is agreeing to support us in emergencies: If we're about to be overrun by Taliban, they'll come help. They'll stop us from obviously losing, in other words. If we want to win, we're pretty much on our own...