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| Afghanistan |
| Defense Secretary, Facing Criticism, |
| 2008-01-18 |
| Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that NATO countries were playing a “significant and powerful role in Afghanistan,” after some of Washington’s closest European allies assailed him for comments cited in a news report about their counterinsurgency operations in the volatile south. Speaking at a news conference in Washington, Mr. Gates said that the allies “had stepped up to the plate” in Afghanistan. Mr. Gates was quoted, in an interview this week with The Los Angeles Times, as saying that most of the European forces “are not properly trained” in counterinsurgency. He added, referring to the operations in southern Afghanistan, that he was “worried we have some military forces that don’t know how to do counterinsurgency operations.” The interview hit a nerve inside the 26-member NATO alliance, which is debating its future role in fighting terrorism, particularly in Afghanistan. The Dutch government, seeking clarification, on Wednesday summoned the American ambassador. The government only recently agreed to extend its mandate in the south, where it has 1,600 troops. On Thursday, Mr. Gates called the Dutch defense minister, Eimert van Middelkoop. “Mr. Gates telephoned Eimert van Middelkoop and apologized,” Joop Veen, a Dutch Defense Ministry spokesman, said, Agence France-Presse reported. Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, confirmed that Mr. Gates had made the call but said there was nothing for which Mr. Gates needed to apologize. “The secretary called his Dutch counterpart this afternoon and tried to clear up any misunderstanding caused by the article and expressed regret for any consternation it has caused the Dutch government,” Mr. Morrell said. NATO went to Afghanistan in August 2003 with a focus on providing security and carrying out peacekeeping missions, while American troops focused on counterinsurgency. Last year, NATO became much more involved in heavy combat missions in the south. Until now, there was little public criticism over the way the two missions cooperated. “Gates seemed to have forgotten or does not know that the Dutch armed forces have been completely changed since the end of the cold war. We have become an expeditionary force with wide experience,” said Maj. Gen. Kees Homan, a security expert at Clingendael, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations. “By singling out those countries that are doing most of the fighting in Afghanistan, Gates has committed a tactical error, both politically and among Dutch public opinion,” he said. “Why did he not criticize those NATO countries which stay well away from the fighting?” |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #3 Well, certain MEMBERS of NATO "can do", but it's 90% US "can do". No other NATO nation actually trains or practices counterterrorism or counter-insurgency. The Brits used to, but quit after leaving Malaysia. Secretary Gates' criticism is justified in that regard. The US should set up a counter-insurgency training center in Afghanistan, and train all NATO forces, as well as Afghan and Pakistani troops. It would supposedly get all the forces fighting the Taliban on the same sheet of music, at least. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-01-18 14:02 |
| #2 You could shorten that to "NATO Can't do" and it still works. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-18 13:01 |
| #1 Of course, this why we're sending in 3000 Marines. NATO couldn't do Kosovo and they couldn't do Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-01-18 12:34 |