Germans in Afghanistan

[Surferbeetle]

You are doing the heavy lifting but I doubt that it is NATOs heavy lifting you are doing. NATO was designed as a collective defence organization. In my opinion, and I suspect the opinion of most Germans, many NATO operations don't have anything to do with defence of its membership countries. It may be argued that the war in Afghanistan eliminates terrorists who could attack NATO countries, but that view isn't shared in Germany.

Nevertheless few people (mainly on the far left/right) want to abolish NATO as a collective defence organization in the original sense. Also look at what Merkel said today:

Translation:
The [Afghanistan] mission "is an imperative interest for the security of our country. A special path for Germany is no alternative for german foreign policy."

Note the connection. Not: It is an imperative interest for the security of Germany to defeat terrorist etc. in Afghanistan. But: It is an imperative interest for the security of Germany to follow the same path as our (NATO) allies.
I'd say that underlines the importance of NATO for german foreign policy.

Igel,

I appreciate the candor and insights concerning NATO. It is my opinion that structures such as NATO are important and cost effective methods of mitigating some of the harshness we experience during the course of our lives. Professor Walt at the website Foreign Policy recently recommended a book entitled The Tragedy of Great Power Politics by John J. Mearsheimer which I am currently working through…it is interesting to compare it with my experiences in Europe and Iraq...for what its worth I recommend it to you.

With respect to the Afghanistan mission the view from my vantage point is that the American public is looking for either obvious progress or resolution, and a very short time frame will drive the decision. Iraq has been a formative experience and has resulted in the democratic election of a US administration interested in partnerships. Germany’s actions and efforts are being compared to those of the UK and Canada as well as our other NATO allies and partners. This analysis is complicated by the fact that many Americans are unaware of the depth of the German populace's majority view regarding war, nor are they aware that democratically elected Frau Dr. Merkel may have a very challenging coalition composition to work with in the Bundestag after the September election. Those in the know appear to be working under a very constrained set of options as previously stated.

Of interest to you may also be this article (in german) in the FAZ. Considering its conservative and generally levelheaded stance, it is quite critical of America. Maybe sign for a deeper discontent with US policy even in generally US friendly circles?

Point taken; I appreciate the link and the article. FAZ does indeed make more of an effort to reason through things and correctly identify core issues than does Der Spiegel. It can indeed be tough and frustrating when one’s allies are not as supportive as one would have hoped. Fortunately this incident is not the only venue in which our nations interact nor, in my opinion at least, is it indicative of the health of the overall relationship.

The defeat of the Taliban is no official goal for the German ISAF troops at all. They just keep watch till the Afghan government takes over.
That's the official mission according to every German official source.

The German ISAF troops would accomplish the mission if they merely keep the Taliban in the underground and get relieved Basra-style sometime in the future.

That's also exactly what I expect - the ANA will take over the least challenging areas first, and that's the North (and they'll take over Kabul).

*guess* We'll probably withdraw from Kunduz in about 2011 and Kabul maybe 2012. */guess*

Fuchs,

You regularly bring up some interesting points to consider which had not occurred to me.

Beyond Foust's evident personal frustration and tendency towards ad hominem attacks, this article seemed fairly persuasive to me (someone with no background or personal experience in this whatsoever!). Foust argues that not only have the Germans not made progress, in many ways they have actually undermined the other allies. For those that know: is this a fair assertion? And if it is, might it actually be better for ISAF if the left prevails domestically in Germany and the Bundeswehr pulls out altogether?

Jesse,

To me the question would be how much area do they currently hold…if force ratios are indeed an issue…and in their absence how often and many more rotations will you and I and others have the opportunity to participate in as a result? Will we see Joshua out there with us?