The unwillingness of certain NATO members to send more troop support to Afghanistan potentially threatens to undermine the US’ commitment to the alliance, according to a new report produced by the Commons Defence Committee.

Among European governments, it said, political will is in short supply, adding that, should the Afghan mission fail, unity between allied nations would be severely affected.

The committee called on NATO countries to pledge the deployment of more troops, and with less provisos, at the upcoming NATO summit in Romania in April.

NATO Public Opinion

The MPs behind the report’s issue additionally wrote of their concern over, what in their eyes, was a less-than-fully-formed public opinion of the true role of NATO – a situation that, they said, was undermining support for the organisation.

Unless more financial and political support was forthcoming, said the committee, there was a real risk of NATO dropping in the US’ estimation.

"Without US support, NATO has no future”, they asserted.

“But US support depends on NATO becoming more capable, deployable and flexible, and on the European allies contributing more."

On the subject of Afghanistan, they added:

“While failure in Afghanistan would not herald the demise of NATO, it would deal a severe blow to allied unity and prompt the United States to question the alliance's continuing utility."  

Of the 24 member states that make up NATO, only 25 per cent have fulfilled a pledge to spend a minimum of 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

"If the European members of the alliance want to be taken seriously, if they want the United States to remain engaged in, and committed to, NATO, and if they want greater influence in the overall direction of alliance policy, they must commit the necessary resources and improve their capabilities”, the report said.

"We are concerned that an alliance with such large and growing discrepancies in defence spending will not be sustainable in the long term."

Source – Armed Forces International’s Political Correspondent

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