Europe’s Revolving Door in Afghanistan

Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

Inside a German army camp in Kunduz, Afghanistan.




Europeans are fighting in Afghanistan, but they are less and less sure why. President Obama, by his long process of self-examination on Afghanistan and his decision to ramp up troops in pursuit of an exit, has bought himself 18 months or so, senior European diplomats say.

The war is deeply unpopular among the European public, who do not easily accept the notion that their security is on the line in Kandahar or along the Hindu Kush. Still, key European members of the NATO alliance have agreed to go to the well one more time and stump up several thousand more troops for Afghanistan, with France and Germany the noted holdouts.

But after a European-sponsored conference on Afghanistan scheduled for London on Jan. 28, to assess Afghan progress and to discuss new pledges of support and aid, both Germany and France are expected to also increase their troop commitments. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, however, with key regional elections in March, may decide to wait until they are over, especially since he announced that not one more French solider would go to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan under Mr. Obama has increasingly become an American war, with what was once a rough equality of American and NATO troops becoming more than 2 to 1 American. Still, having declared Afghanistan an Article 5 conflict after the attacks of 9/11 — committing NATO to the defense of a member nation, in this case, the United States — NATO members regard some measure of success in Afghanistan as crucial to the health and credibility of the alliance, and have pledged, according to NATO, some 7,000 more troops from 25 nations.

The Italians and Poles have come up with 1,000 more troops each, Britain 500 more. But almost 2,000 of the 7,000 will come from countries outside the alliance (including Australia, South Korea, Sweden and aspiring NATO members, Georgia, Ukraine, Macedonia and Montenegro).

At the same time, there is an element of filling a cup with a hole in the bottom. The Netherlands will withdraw its 2,200 troops in the course of 2010; Canada, with 2,800, will be leaving by 2011. That means as American troop levels rise from 68,000 to 98,000 by next summer, allied troop levels are not likely to go much higher than the present 38,000.

American generals regard the European contributions as helpful, but not overwhelmingly so — too many nations, too many small contingents, too many special rules and conditions on how each nation’s soldiers are able to fight the war. But the more Europeans there are, to provide support and security and training for the woeful Afghan army and police, the more the Americans can concentrate on the tough battles and most contested regions.

Source:atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/

Taliban Militants Fire Rockets on Crowded Bazaar Northeast of Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban militants fired rockets on a bazaar northeast of Kabul on Monday, near the site of a meeting between French soldiers and local tribal leaders, and police officials said 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 28 wounded.

NATO troops reported that 4 civilians had been killed and 40 wounded. No troops were reported wounded or killed in the attack. Soldiers helped to ferry the wounded to local hospitals and to a nearby NATO base for medical care, a spokesman said.

The attack took place in the Tagab District, about 35 miles from Kabul in a mountainous area of Kapisa Province, a little after noon, when merchants and customers thronged the bazaar, exchanging goods for the week. The area, which is mixed Pashtun and Tajik, has been under pressure from local Taliban forces, who are in nearby valleys.

“The Taliban fired the rockets from Badrab, where they have a base,” said the deputy police chief, Haji Mohammed Akbar. “They are strong there,” he said.

Christophe Prazuck, a spokesman for the French military, said the attack came as a French general and other French officers met with tribal leaders in a building a few hundred yards from the market. He said it was unclear whether militants had singled out that gathering, or whether they had aimed at the market.

“They were explaining what they were doing, what they intended to do in terms of development projects, and they wanted to know what the villages needed for the following month,” Mr. Prazuck said about the meeting.

Mr. Akbar said he did not think that the attackers had intended to strike the French. It was relatively easy for the Taliban to hit the French base, but the militants seemed to aim at the bazaar and civilians, he said. “There were no French forces in the bazaar at the time,” he added.

Hours earlier in the Arghandab District, near the southern city of Kandahar, local officials said Taliban attackers raided a police station, killing eight officers and wounding three. Three other police officers in the station disappeared, and a spokesman for the Kandahar governor’s office, who asked not to be identified by name, said he was not sure if the officers who disappeared had a connection to the Taliban.

There have been a number of cases in which local police officers are actually Taliban fighters who help to set up attacks.

The Kandahar provincial police chief, Zardar Muhammed Zazai, said the raid was under investigation.

Source:nytimes.com