During a trip to Germany and the Czech Republic earlier this month, I was surprised to find that many of the Europeans I spoke to seemed more cognizant than the Obama administration of how important it was to commit the resources necessary to win in Afghanistan.
This has not always been the case. The Bush administration tried repeatedly to obtain increased troop commitments from NATO allies and was often rebuffed. The soldiers that were sent were often of limited utility because of political restrictions placed on the areas they would deploy to as well as their rules of engagement.
In its nine months in office, the Obama administration has been unable to turn the president’s vaunted popularity in much of the world into major new international commitments of troops. Now, just as the president is publicly agonizing over what the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan should be, some European leaders seem willing to consider making increased commitments to Afghanistan.
Is it possible that President Obama is playing good cop, bad cop with our European allies over Afghanistan?
Lord knows I worry that our president is looking for any excuse to retreat. But is he still committed to winning but using his Left base and VP Biden as the bad cops to persuade Europeans to step up lest we run away? "Gosh Europe, I'd love to fight in Afghanistan. But my base wants me to run, and I don't know how I can send more troops in the face of that kind of opposition when you won't send more."
Given that European public opinion is even more against the war than our people, that seems risky. But who knows? I have to at least contemplate the possibility that our president is leveraging European help.
