Obama Surge in Afghanistan - Global support or slippery slope?

[WhiskeyGirl]

As Brigadier General Mark Carleton-Smith, Britain's top military officer in Afghanistan, bluntly told the Sunday Times, "We're not going to win this war."

If Obama were serious about a military victory in Afghanistan he would have sent 40,000 troops, not 21,000. The former figure — which the administration initially discussed —would fulfill the Pentagon's formula of soldiers to population counterinsurgency strategy. Nevertheless, 21,000 troops is an escalation, and escalation is always a slippery slope.

In a sense the administration has little choice because increasingly, the United States is on its own. In recent NATO meetings in Poland, the Europeans made it clear that they would not join a "surge," despite pleas by British Defense Secretary John Hutton and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Polls show a substantial majority of Germans, British, French, and Italians are opposed to sending any more troops to Afghanistan.

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6012

I wonder if Obama's personal appeal to Europeans will increase those willing to serve in places like Afghanistan?  Who will be the next warrior for Obama?

[oldiebutgoodie]

Obama: Afghan Strategy Must Include Ending Terror Threat in Pakistan

President Barack Obama said the United States and NATO cannot be effective in Afghanistan without addressing the threat of terrorism across the border in Pakistan.

Mr. Obama told reporters during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany that he does not envision NATO troops in Pakistan. But he said NATO allies must do more to help the Pakistani government eliminate safe havens for extremists in the country's tribal regions.

[...]

Last month, Mr. Obama unveiled a new strategy for the conflict in Afghanistan, which includes more U.S. troops, money for training Afghan police, and a new diplomatic emphasis on Pakistan.

President Obama also said the goal of his new plan is not to run Afghanistan, but to help the country provide its own security to ensure it does not become a safe haven for terrorists.

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Obama says does not see NATO operating in Pakistan

BADEN-BADEN, Germany, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he did not expect NATO troops to have to enter Pakistan, but said allies should do more to help Islamabad root out safe havens for Islamist militants.

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Barack Obama warns Europe faces greater threat from al-Qaida

Barack Obama today called for a world without nuclear weapons and for greater co-operation between Nato and Russia. But in a reminder that more recent security threats have arisen, he warned that al-Qaida posed a greater threat to Europe than America, and he said that the danger of nuclear catastrophe remained.

Speaking in Strasbourg on the eve of Nato's 60th anniversary meeting this weekend, Obama said: "Even with the cold war over, the spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet.

[...]

Obama is credited with helping broker a deal at a G20 summit in London yesterday to tackle the global financial crisis. He is looking for similar consensus from Nato leaders on how to turn the tide against the worsening Afghan crisis.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy immediately threw his weight behind Obama's plan, which aims to get a grip on escalating violence by al-Qaida and Taliban militants driven from power in 2001.

[...]

The US's new Afghanistan strategy is wider than the Bush administration's focus and now includes work in Pakistan, and puts the highest priority on the defeat of al-Qaida militants.

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[oldiebutgoodie]

France, Germany endorse Obama's Afghanistan plans

STRASBOURG, France – France and Germany fully endorsed President Barack Obama's new Afghan war strategy but continued to firmly resist U.S. demands for more combat troops on Saturday in a rift that overshadowed symbols of unity at NATO's 60th-anniversary summit.

[...]

NATO's ability to succeed in Afghanistan is seen as a crucial test of the power and relevance of the alliance founded to counterbalance the Soviet Union and now fighting a rising insurgency far beyond its borders. European leaders and voters remain deeply skeptical about whether more troops can stabilize a country devastated by decades of war.

[...]

But Afghanistan remained at the heart of the summit. Sarkozy and Merkel again stressed their support for the new strategy on Afghanistan that Obama was formally unveiling.

"We cannot afford to lose," Sarkozy said in opening remarks, "because there (Afghanistan), some of the freedom of the world is at stake." Merkel, the summit co-host, said that Afghanistan was a "test" case for the alliance.

Good will toward Obama, who worked the room patting leaders he had just met on the back, was in ample evidence.

"We trust him," Sarkozy said. "We were expecting and waiting for the words we heard."

However, both Merkel and Sarkozy stressed the need for Afghanistan's government and security forces to shoulder an increasing share of the burden.

[...]

At the summit's opening on Friday, Obama promised to repair damaged relations with Europe and asked for support of his new strategy, which has him adding 21,000 U.S. troops to the force of 38,000 struggling against Taliban advances alongside a like number of European, Canadian and non-NATO forces

Obama said upon his arrival in Strasbourg Friday that Europe should not expect the United States to bear the combat burden alone.

"This is a joint problem," Obama said. "And it requires a joint effort."

British officials traveling to the summit with Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters aboard his plane that Brown will offer to send more troops to Afghanistan but that depended upon other NATO members being prepared to send additional forces, Britain's Press Association reported.

Spain said ahead of the summit that it would add a small contingent to help train Afghan army officers. Belgium said it will add some 65 soldiers to a force of 500 and send two more F-16 jet fighters, bringing the total number it has sent to six.

A senior U.S. official traveling with Obama said Saturday that the administration expects that pledges and commitments from other NATO nations would come in over the next several weeks.

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