Afghanistan: NATO In A Quagmire Too?

NATO’s first Secretary General, Lord Ismay, famously stated the organization’s goal was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”. The world is a different place now. Some have even begin to question the need for keeping NATO alive in the post-Cold War era.

Mary Dejevsky says in The Independent: “Nato’s dissolution is long overdue… Where more than two or three military or defence specialists are gathered together, the war enters conversation not just as a make-or-break point for Afghanistan, but as make-or-break for the Nato alliance.

“If, it is argued, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (or NATO), under whose command this war is being fought, cannot prevail – and, equally pertinent – be seen to have prevailed, what price the continuation of the alliance at all?

“There are three main strands to the argument as it has developed so far, though with many gradations in between. The defeatist one would be that the alliance has outlived its usefulness. The second strand, you could describe as the reformist one, would be that the alliance has a future, but must change in line with changing times.

“And the third you could describe as the nostalgic strand: NATO, so its adherents would maintain, has done an excellent job, is essential to future global stability and needs less change and more belief.

“I make no apologies for belonging to the first, rather small, camp which is hardly admitted to the debate at all. My firm conviction is that Nato should have declared victory and dissolved itself at the end of the Cold War.

“There are many reasons why this did not happen, including the considerable confusion at the time, the preoccupation of Western leaders with other matters, not least the hugely controversial reunification of Germany, and the uncertainty about how Russia and the former Warsaw Pact countries would develop.

“But the dissolution of Nato would have sent the message – still not really heard in Moscow or points east – that the Cold War is over. If disbanding was thought a step too far, Nato could, as an interim measure, have honoured Bill Clinton’s early pledge that the alliance would not expand – as it subsequently did – up to Russia’s borders.

“A simple name change and clarification of mission could have been a first step to the alliance, perhaps, becoming the core of a regional military force for the UN. It would have allowed Nato to cast off its image as directed exclusively against Russia and helped dispel east-west antagonism. An opportunity was lost. Ever since, the alliance has been looking around for a new purpose…

“The discord in Afghanistan is compounded by differences about the focus of Nato policy – is it any longer about Russia or mostly about the rest of the world? And this lies behind a discussion just launched by Nato’s new General Secretary, the Dane Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to agree a new “strategic concept” for the alliance. He has appointed a panel of 12 advisers which is supposed to come up with its blueprint by late 2010.”

More here….

Meanwhile NYT reports about the killing of civilians in a major NATO strike in Afghanistan: “A NATO air strike believed to have killed scores of Afghan civilians was a major ‘error of judgment’ by German forces, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview published on Monday.” More here…

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.

NATO has added new members seven times since first forming in 1949 (the last 2 in 2009). NATO comprises 28 members: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world’s defence spending, with the United States alone accounting for about half the total military spending of the world and the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy accounting for a further 15%.