The NATO freeriders

Washington Post:

Britain's defense chief yesterday sharply criticized NATO's other European members for failing to do their part in Afghanistan, saying some of them had "limited appetites" for the operation and preferred "freeloading on the back of U.S. military security."

The assessment by British Defense Secretary John Hutton followed what one Pentagon official called a "disappointing" response this week to a request from NATO headquarters for additional troops and other resources to provide security for Afghanistan's elections this fall.

"We very much appreciate the contributions of our European allies," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, while at the same time expressing understanding of the British official's frustration. "We all need to do more."

Morrell noted that the United States will provide "thousands of additional forces and billions of additional dollars this year" for Afghanistan and that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates "will continue to encourage our allies to do more."

The Bush administration has repeatedly pressed NATO's European members to increase their contributions to Afghanistan -- now totaling about 32,000 troops -- and to eliminate combat restrictions some contributors have placed on the roles their forces can play. There are 32,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with slightly less than half of them under NATO command.

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Coalition warfare has always been a problem as most Eisenhower biographies point out. At least in his case it was mainly about allocation of resources and logistics between competing armies eager to fight. What we have found in Afghanistan is that too many of the countries are not eager to let their troops fight. Germany has been an especially bad example.

Ralph Peters argues today that Obama needs to use some of his political capital in Europe to put more heat on the coalition of the not so willing.

I question what we will get from them if they do commit. The Brits have been the most forthcoming and you can't discount the effort of their troops, but some of their leadership has shown the same hesitancy to engage that they did so disastrously in Iraq. When it comes to counterinsurgency, the leaders of British forces just don't seem to get that this is not Northern Ireland.

Lately there are some glimmers of hope from the Brits. The Royal Marine Commandos just had a excellent sweep north of Kandahar discovering a huge IED factory. Other British units have gone on the offensive against the Taliban in their area of operations and driven some from strategic villages.