NATO’s fragile unity over Afghanistan has begun to crack ahead of an important summit – with one public call to discuss an exit strategy from the allied forces’ bloody confrontation with the Taliban, according to a report in The Independent. The report said that while heads of government were to make a show of unity over Afghanistan at Tuesday’s summit in Riga, the Belgian defence minister had questioned the future of NATO’s most important mission. The Belchians? But... But... Without the Belchian Hairdresser Corps all of NATO would wither!
It said that heads of the allianceÂ’s 26 nations were unlikely to agree to send reinforcements to Afghanistan.
Yeah. We heard Europe is washing its hair that year.
The report said the Belgian ministerÂ’s comments would alarm senior figures at the allianceÂ’s headquarters where there was already concern that France was getting cold feet about its role in Afghanistan. Paris had remained publicly committed to the mission, but NATO sources were concerned about the possibility of an eventual French withdrawal, it said.
La Belle France? Quelle surprise!
French President Chirac said on Monday that France wanted its NATO partners to set up a “contact group” to review and reorganise the alliance’s mission in Afghanistan. A French diplomat said that Paris feared the NATO mission to Afghanistan was trying to “impose rather than keep the peace”.
Ummm... If you don't impose it, y'got nothin' to keep, do you?
Belgian Defence Minister André Flahaut brought anxieties about the Afghan mission into the open when he suggested that, at the Riga summit, “We finally reflect on an exit strategy.” Flahaut argued, “Over time, NATO forces risk appearing like an army of occupation.”
What if that's what it takes?
Meanwhile on Monday, the US called on NATO allies to do more in Afghanistan, but acknowledged that domestic politics held some countries back from a more robust presence there. “If allies have agreed by consensus to take on a mission, they should help each other to carry out the mission,” said a senior US official.