Word: nato
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...have 3,500. All of the remaining alliance members have dispatched at least some troops or resources to aid in the effort. But under a system of national exceptions known as caveats, most have also stipulated that their troops not be sent to difficult areas, including the south. Within NATO, only the U.S., U.K., Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark now have significant numbers of troops in the region. Because of caveats, Germans are not allowed to fight at night and Turks can't fire except in self-defense. In the view of U.S. and NATO officials, such restrictions are badly...
...more importantly, its voters - have taken as an article of faith the idea that conflicts are best settled by dialogue and diplomacy, with war reserved as a last resort. In Europe, the past is always present. Retired British General Sir Mike Jackson, the former British army chief who commanded NATO forces in Kosovo and U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia, notes that "it is easy to be disparaging about Germany's contribution, but one shouldn't underestimate ... the sight of German soldiers in far-flung corners evoking unpleasant memories...
...most European nations, defense spending has been falling for years. Starting in 1985, through the decade after the cold war ended, it was reduced 40% in the U.K., 15% in Germany and 7% in France. Only seven out of NATO's 26 members meet the alliance benchmark of spending 2% of their GDP on defense - compared to 3.8% in the U.S. - and in most cases, those percentages are falling. The result is sharply diminished capacity, even in those nations that are ready to field troops to fight...
...lack of spare parts for armored vehicles to uniforms that are insufficiently camouflaged. German soldiers have taken to buying their own gun holsters because the army-issue variety do not fit properly under their bullet-proof vests. German helicopters, according to a source at the International Security Assistance Force (NATO's military arm in Afghanistan), can't fly at night because they do not have the required navigation equipment. "They are fundamentally good helicopters," says the ISAF source, "but they are fundamentally useless." Then there is training: one in four German soldiers, according to a recent parliamentary report...
...Madrid's Foundation for International Relations and Foreign Dialogue, explains. "But as the operation has become more military in nature, support has dropped." Even in France, which has superb armed forces held in high regard by the public, and which is on the verge of cementing its "reintegration" into NATO's command structure, there is still concern about answering NATO's call for more troops in Afghanistan. "It's a question of political acceptability," explains François Heisbourg, a special adviser at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Paris. Any spike in French casualties, he says, could produce...