Friday, March 27, 2009

Obama's Unilateralist Afghan Policy

The World from Berlin: Success or Failure in Afghanistan Will Depend on Americans - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International:
"'If Obama had any illusions whatsoever when he took office about whether his partners would abandon their increasing reserve on the issue of Afghanistan, then those have been buried by now. Of course, the emissaries he sent to the region and to his partners have told him that by now. Germany may be willing to keep its current 3,400 troops in the country, but other countries are firmly holding to their plans to withdraw. Holland will pull out 1,700 troops by
2010, and a year later Canada's 2,800-soldier contingent will return home. The success or failure on the main front in the battle against radical Islam will be determined by the US's engagement there.'"

I thought if we stopped calling them "Old Europe" and made nice to them, our "allies" were supposed to be more supportive of our foreign policy. Wasn't Afghanistan the war we all agreed upon?

Of course, no amount of diplomacy, cajoling, cow-towing, or conferring with the Europeans can elicit any significant contribution from them. They lack the backbone and the resources to be of any help. They long ago gave up on funding a meaningful defense. Their money has been all sucked up by their welfare state economies. And their resolve has been sapped by the nihilism that permeates their cultures.

At current course and speed, that'll be us in another 10 years.

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