May 22, 2006
As the war in Afghanistan seems to be becoming more violent these last few days I recall an interview I had with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Washington, DC in May 2004.
The NATO Secretary General commented to me two years ago that “Afghanistan is my number-one priority. Our first and immediate priority is to get Afghanistan right. We cannot afford to fail. We cannot pull out of Afghanistan, and there is no question of us pulling out. We stand firm in fighting terrorism. We cannot lose there. We have to succeed in Afghanistan. If we fail, then who will have confidence in us again? Our credibility as NATO, as the Euro-Atlantic community, is on the line. To preserve it, we have no choice but to succeed. NATO has a tradition to keep. NATO has never made empty promises. So NATO should not make empty promises now. NATO has always backed up its words with deeds. My first priority is to ensure that our long and honorable tradition continues in Afghanistan.”
The U.S. and its allies went to war in Afghanistan as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon and successfully overthrew the Taliban government but we still have not captured the mastermind of those attacks, Osama bin Laden, nor have we captured the former leader of the ousted Taliban regime Mohammed Omar.
And, while the U.S. has more than 130, 000 troops in Iraq we are lowering the number of American troops in Afghanistan this summer to below 20,000. To this observer it seems as if our priorities are somewhat backwards and we should have more U.S. troops in Afghanistan searching for the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks and fewer U.S. troops in Iraq.
As American troop strength is reduced this summer in Afghanistan NATO forces will be increasing in numbers. The British earlier this month took “command of NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.”
“NATO, running the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), is to increase its strength from 9,000 to 21, 000 by November - the highest level since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. Its troops are now moving south, beyond Kabul and the quiet north and west while U.S. forces, in reduced numbers run Operation Enduring Freedom in the east, hunting the so-called ‘remnants’ of al-Qaida and the Taliban.”
The coalition of countries with troops in Afghanistan numbers 35 with the “four top contributing countries being: Germany (over 2,200), Italy (more than 2,000), Canada (over 800), Spain and France (each over 500).”
NATO will be enlarging its presence around the country this summer and there is a growing fear that there will be more violence directed at these new NATO troops as they move farther away from the capital of Kabul into areas with increasing Taliban strength, local warlords and opium growers.
According to news reports there has been heavy fighting in “rebel strongholds in southern Afghanistan” these past few days. CNN reports that “a storm of violence has recently broken out in the south - among the deadliest combat in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. The Taliban resurgence, despite the presence of 30, 000 foreign troops, including 23, 000 from the United States, has halted much postwar reconstruction work and raised fears for the country’s future.”
While the eyes of the world have been focused so much on the war and terrorism in Iraq it now appears that we will be seeing more reports of heated up violence and insurgency in Afghanistan as NATO tries to spread its support of the Karzai government to regions outside of Kabul.
After 9/11 European and other governments around the world joined with the United States in defeating the Taliban government in Afghanistan. It would be a terrible tragedy if the alliance failed to hold together in Afghanistan and people forgot about the “other” war while concentrating too much on other potential trouble areas.
As the NATO Secretary General says, “We cannot afford to fail” in Afghanistan. Providing stability and helping pave the way to democracy in Afghanistan is as important as doing the same in Iraq. And in Afghanistan there is a genuine coalition of allies working together in the “first mission outside the Euro-Atlantic area in NATO’s history.”
NATO’s future credibility is tied up in its performance in Afghanistan and how it completes this tough assignment will determine its future role as one of the most successful military alliances in history.
Let’s hope that Jaap de Hoop Scheffer’s remarks prove correct and that Afghanistan will become a stable, democratic and economically viable country in the future. It has a long way to go to meet those goals and history is working against these results but it could eventually happen if NATO and the NATO countries don’t lose their political will, courage and patience. | 
