Friday, February 27, 2009



Shapiro: The European effort, including the German one, has been absolutely appalling in this area. In some ways, we would be better off if they had not done anything at all. That is one of the overriding problems in Afghanistan: A lot of the efforts are simply wasted. We need more effective unity of command and that is something that I think the current strategy reviews in Washington will push for.

ABOUT JEREMY SHAPIRO
Brookings Institution

Jeremy Shapiro is director of research at the "Center on the United States and Europe" at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. He has traveled to Afghanistan several times in the past few years and conducted research on civil-military relations. Shapiro also worked for the RAND corporation.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: So the US does not want more soldiers from the Europeans -- they want help in other areas and more control?

Shapiro: Yes, the European debate has totally missed the boat on that. Their whole focus on troop deployments neglects what is actually happening. The Americans do not want a few thousand more NATO troops wandering around in Afghanistan. For the immediate future, they are prepared to play that part on their own in exchange for greater control. This is a serious threat to NATO and to trans-Atlantic solidarity -- but probably good for the situation in Afghanistan.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Do you think the mission in Afghanistan will become more and more a US operation?

Shapiro: Washington will not kick NATO out, of course. But the current structure will become increasingly irrelevant as more US troops arrive. This is already happening. Therefore, the debate with the Europeans should no longer focus on troop contributions. NATO partners have 35,000 soldiers in Afghanistan -- they have increased their troops a lot in recent years. The problem is they are not using the resources they have already committed very well. The Americans don't care about more European troops. They want more effective commitments, which means using resources already deployed more efficiently and offering new capabilities that fill urgent needs.

... interesting times ...
... maybe we should ask exon fox explanations ...



# posted by intcoex : 5:14 AM




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