Adm. Fallon looks for more help from allies

Washington Times:

The new commander of U.S. military forces in the Middle East, Adm. William Fallon, says he will set a high priority on enlisting the help of friendly Arab and Asian nations in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and against the al Qaeda terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden.
"There are a lot of people out there just standing around not doing anything to help us," Adm. Fallon said late Saturday in his first newspaper interview since he was named last month to succeed Army Gen. John Abizaid as commander of the world's most sensitive region. "We need to turn that around. The neighboring nations there have to play a role."
The admiral, who will have authority over all U.S. forces in the region, including those led by the new commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, did not name specific Arab nations to which he would look for support.
But Egypt -- a leader in the Arab world that gets $2.5 billion a year in military assistance from the United States -- and Saudi Arabia, which has long been a target for al Qaeda terrorists, seemed likely candidates.
Adm. Fallon spoke by telephone from his airplane as he returned to his Pacific Command headquarters here from Washington, where he was unanimously confirmed to his new post in a Senate vote on Thursday.
Drawing on his experience over the past two years as head of the Pacific Command, Adm. Fallon said he would also seek support from Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and Malaysia, in which Islam is the dominant religion. He visited both countries a year ago to meet their senior political and military leaders.
Adm. Fallon also said he might look for help from India, which has a large Muslim minority. Adm. Fallon noted that the United States had been helped in Iraq and Afghanistan by Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand. "I'm interested in seeing how we can leverage this into more support," he said.
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It is becoming clear that many of our allies in the region understand at least the Iranian threat if not the threat from the Sunni insurgency. They also seem to comprehend the threat to their own regimes by both the Sunni and Shia religious bigots. Getting them to act on it beyond new weapons purchases may be a challenge. Many are cooperating with the US on support bases, but none have actually shouldered weapons in the fight so far.