NATO Promises Additional 7,000 Troops For A'Stan
Friday, December 04, 2009
Except it really doesn't. In fact, among those 7,000 "additional" troops promised are 1,500 which are already in country and the 500 the British had already promised. So it's 5,000 additional troops in reality. Nothing to sneeze at but certainly not the 10,000 desired. As expected many will come from former Eastern bloc nations:
1,000 from Poland; 600 from Italy, plus more Carabinieri to work with Afghan police (something which worked well in Iraq - ed.). Slovakia is sending a small deployment ...
Non NATO nations are sending detachments as well - South Korea is sending a small one and a surprisingly large one of about 1,000 coming from Georgia.
The clinker(s)?
An undisclosed number of the new troops will steer clear of the fighting because they are barred by their countries from combat operations. And two allies, the Netherlands and Canada, still plan to withdraw nearly 5,000 troops in the next two years, offsetting the infusion.
But it sounds great on paper, doesn't it?