NATO’s European members need to increase the number of soldiers they each contribute to multinational missions, such as Afghanistan, the alliance’s outgoing secretary general warned Tuesday. NATO’s credibility will be shattered if it doesn’t succeed in Afghanistan, Lord Robertson told several hundred delegates at a NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
Yes it would, wouldn’t it.
Failure of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan would result in increased terrorism, drug trading and refugees, Robertson told reporters after his address. ``If we fail, we will find Afghanistan on all our doorsteps,’’ he said. Robertson noted in his speech that the 18 non-U.S. NATO nations have only 55,000 soldiers assigned to multinational missions, although they have a total of 1.4 million soldiers in uniform plus about 1 million in reserves. ``Most of your countries plead that they are overstretched and can do no more,’’ Robertson said. ``That is quite simply unacceptable. It risks strategic failure in current operations.’’
Part of the problem is that, from everything I’ve read, a fair percentage of those 1.4 million soldiers just aren’t up to modern combat operations: lack of equipment, logistics, training and leadership.
Robertson urged the delegates to use their political muscle at home to overcome constitutional constraints and budgetary hurdles limiting the commitment of soldiers to multinational missions. ``These are all political issues. So the ball is firmly in your court,’’ said Robertson, who will be succeeded as secretary general by Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Jan. 1. NATO took over command of the multinational force in Afghanistan in August from Germany and the Netherlands. |