There has been some talk in the papers about the NATO Secretary General's support for Gen. McChrystal's report. I would suggest that what he said was that Afghanistan clearly does need some COIN support. What he also said was this (see around 3:30 mark):
"NATO will consider the addition of ground forces when the time is right."
Wow. So it's okay to endorse the strategy, but there's no way that NATO is going to actually add any substantive amount of troops to the mix. Other than Britain, I am not sure we're going to see more than a few dozen military personnel from the rest of the community. So whenever NATO wants to get serious about sending its fair share of troops - say, about 20,000 or so - then feel free to discuss how our operations in Afghanistan ought to be conducted, Mr. Rasmussen.
Rasmussen is quite on his own.
He doesn't really represent anyone and should better begin to understand his job more as an "organizer and representative on ceremonies only" job.
Posted by: Sven Ortmann | 27 October 2009 at 10:31 AM
What about a commitment of air forces, or space assets?
Posted by: AndroidBoy | 27 October 2009 at 11:25 PM