The future of Afghanistan and the visible resurgence of the banned Taliban militia have turned into a major security concern.
In recent weeks extra time and effort has been invested in trying to find some mechanism for maintaining cohesion among foreign troops in the war-ravaged country.
Condoleezza Rice and Britain’s David Miliband together visited Kabul this week while NATO defense ministers gathered in Lithuania to coordinate efforts to help prop up the failing Afghan security and plug the deepening differences over troop deployment.
From what is known, the defense chiefs despite strong US pressure to send more combat troops and reinforcements into the volatile southern Afghan areas, refused to budge and failed to override their differences.
Parts of the security problems across the Afghan territory are due to the consistent, and now seemingly permanent, failures of the US and UK military to take on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The two radical groups have now become more assertive and said to be spreading their influence into Pakistan and Iraq.
Tired and desperate in fighting an unwinnable war against the Taliban and Talibanization, the US-led forces have been repeatedly shooting at Afghan civilians killing thousands of non-combatants since the fighting began six years ago. The ensuing violence and insecurity have effectively hampered the longÐdelayed reconstruction of the poor Muslim country.
When it was recently revealed that a British diplomat had held secret talks with the Taliban, the government in Kabul was shocked and NATO members feared the worst. Amid all the chaos and confusion, the key members of the alliance saw no reason to put their troop in harms way.
It is in this context that Germany’s reluctance and then refusal to send more troops to the dangerous Taliban territory in the south makes sense, not to mention the high-voltage political risks tied to such unpopular measures.
The present German contingent in Afghanistan is 3,200 and Berlin has informed the alliance that there is very little room for increasing that number.
In a strongly-worded letter to the Washington regime, Germany said it also doesn’t have sufficient helicopters and troops for deployment in high-risk areas.
The Germans believe NATO involvement in the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda runs against their mandate in Afghanistan. The UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in that country has a duty to help provide security in Kabul and contribute to the post-war reconstruction process.
But the Americans in a bid to transfer their burden on others are pushing for a review of the ISAF mission.
It is an open secret that the US and Britain are calling the shots in Kabul and giving direction to the Karzai government.
Experience of the past six years shows the two ageing imperial giants have little time for or interest in the interests and concerns of their NATO partners.
As such, European members of the fractured alliance hardly see any validity in further jeopardizing their troops for the interest of the Anglo-American venture.
Few doubt NATO’s first mission beyond European boundaries has been a failure with the worst still to come. Small wonder that America’s neocon regime should be so worried about the possible Afghan quagmire that awaits the western coalition created ostensibly in the name of fighting terror.