NATO's troop failure means more US troops for Afghanistan

NY Times:

The Pentagon is considering sending as many as 7,000 more American troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from NATO allies, senior Bush administration officials said.

They said the step would push the number of American forces there to roughly 40,000, the highest level since the war began more than six years ago, and would require at least a modest reduction in troops from Iraq.

The planning began in recent weeks, reflecting a growing resignation to the fact that NATO is unable or unwilling to contribute more troops despite public pledges of an intensified effort in Afghanistan from the presidents and prime ministers who attended an alliance summit meeting in Bucharest, Romania, last month.

The shortfalls in troop commitments have cast doubt on claims by President Bush and his aides that NATO was stepping up to provide more help in Afghanistan, where the government of President Hamid Karzai faces a resurgent threat from the Taliban and remnants of Al Qaeda.

The increasing proportion of United States troops, from about half to about two-thirds of the foreign troops in Afghanistan, would be likely to result in what one senior administration official described as “the re-Americanization” of the war.

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It has always been our war, and the attempts to use NATO forces just demonstrates the inadequacy of that organization. NATO countries just do not have the resolve needed to adequately sustain the manpower and equipment needed for the operations. Canada and Britain have been the most forthcoming and deserve credit for their contributions. Australia, though not a NATO country, has also contributed. Germany has been a disappointment. The country seems to have lost its martial flare and lacks the will to put it troops in harms way.

The recent addition of the Marines has also shown what is possible when aggressive troops are placed on the Taliban's turf. They are forcing the Taliban to give battle and the Taliban are losing. That is what we need to be doing elsewhere in Afghanistan.