Word: nato
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...does not often look north to gauge its own security prospects. But over the past few months, Canada has been quietly embroiled in one of the most revealing political and international-security debates since the end of the cold war. It's a debate critical to the future of NATO. And its outcome may tell us a lot about the fate of the U.S.'s struggle against terrorism...
...issue is Canada's military role in Afghanistan. Canada is one of 26 NATO countries in the International Security Assistance Force, which is attempting to stabilize Afghanistan and neutralize the Taliban and al-Qaeda. But Canada is one of only a handful of NATO countries that have embraced the task of actual war-fighting. The Canadians, who have 2,500 troops on the ground, have suffered 82 fatalities, a death rate that is higher than the U.S. military's in Iraq. In an increasingly two-tiered NATO alliance, Canada occupies the fighting tier, alongside the U.S., Britain, Denmark...
...less on combat and more on training Afghan security forces. When finally consulted in earnest, Canadians concluded that the financial and human costs of the mission were in fact worth bearing, at least for now. That's the good news. The bad news is that unlike Canada, few other NATO countries have begun to grapple with the urgency of 21st century threats or the sacrifices needed to deal with them. The avoidance of these topics allows European politicians to shirk tough questions and deprives them of the opportunity to educate their people about the security and humanitarian stakes in Afghanistan...
...alone can't succeed in Afghanistan. But Canada's example shows that even our closest allies need to be convinced that the fight is theirs too. Before countries like Macedonia, Albania and Croatia gain admission to NATO, they should be reminded that membership carries responsibilities as well as rewards. NATO rules should be rewritten to ensure that countries that invest disproportionate military and financial resources (as Canada has done) should have some of their costs subsidized by the alliance. If a government does not want to send its troops to fight, it should still be obliged to contribute funding...
...those who think that Brown, buffeted by dissent and blindsided by serial mishaps, could soon be forced into singing his own sad song of departure. And the medicine he's proposing for the international community - a reinvigorated multilateralism, in which nations work together through institutions like the United Nations, NATO, the IMF and the World Bank, coupled with radical reform of those bodies to make them fit for 21st century purposes - isn't simple to explain. Or sexy...