Nato allies urge rethink on alliance after Biden’s ‘unilateral’ Afghanistan exit

Financial Times ^ | August 17, 2021 | Helen Warrell in London, Guy Chazan in Berlin and Richard Milne in Stockholm

[ConservativeInPA]

European allies had hoped Joe Biden’s election to the US presidency would bolster Nato’s relevance after Donald Trump’s acrimonious years. Washington’s messy withdrawal from Afghanistan is prompting a rethink.

After the fall of Kabul, EU defence and security officials have been strikingly critical of the US decision to send home its troops, arguing it has weakened Nato and raised questions about Europe’s security dependence on Washington. Their reaction marks a bitter end to the alliance’s longest-running mission, which shifted over two decades from combat to a training programme involving 10,000 personnel from 36 countries by the time it ended.

“This kind of troop withdrawal caused chaos. Chaos causes additional suffering,” Artis Pabriks, Latvia’s defence minister, told local radio on Tuesday. Such long-term missions were unlikely in the future, he added: “This era is over. Unfortunately, the west, and Europe in particular, are showing they are weaker globally.”

He echoed Ben Wallace, UK defence secretary, who appeared on the verge of tears on Monday as he reckoned “some would not get back” from the war-torn country. “It’s sad. Twenty years of sacrifice is what it is,” he said.

Armin Laschet, Germany’s conservative candidate to succeed chancellor Angela Merkel, on Tuesday called the allied troop withdrawal “the greatest debacle that Nato has experienced since its foundation”.

[dfwgator]

NATO should have gone away with the fall of the Soviet Union.

[The Duke]

NATO must still be under the impression that the US exists as something other than a banana republic.

[RummyChick]

Pile it on NATO.

Biden Deserves it.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Yep.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[FreedomPoster]

Looks like a silver lining to the Afghanistan cloud.

[trailboss800]

More buyer’s regret. Well suck it up Biden supporters.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

“NATO should have gone away with the fall of the Soviet Union.”
________________________________________________________

Exactly!

Many of the former Warsaw Pact nations are themselves now members of NATO.

Most of our troops in Europe should have been sent to our southern border years ago.

[Aria]

“America is BACK” (meaning you get $ from US treasury)

Begging doesn’t work so well when you’re incompetent.

[Alberta's Child]

"This kind of troop withdrawal caused chaos. Chaos causes additional suffering," Artis Pabriks, Latvia's defence minister, told local radio on Tuesday. Such long-term missions were unlikely in the future, he added: "This era is over. Unfortunately, the west, and Europe in particular, are showing they are weaker globally."

Latvia wasn't even a NATO member until three years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. This dude isn't telling us anything I didn't already know long before 9/11.

Let's keep in mind that in the late 1990s the signature military mission of NATO was the toppling of a Serbian government that represented no threat to a single NATO member.

[cgbg]

The European politicians are gonna face the same heat as the politicians here—family members are gonna get in their faces and nasty about missing relatives.

When it gets personal all bets are off...the politicians are gonna feel like _they_ are being held hostage...

[shanover]

9/11/21 will be one very ugly day. Twenty years ago we know what happened. We are now asking ourselves WTF happened?

[DoodleDawg]

After the fall of Kabul, EU defence and security officials have been strikingly critical of the US decision to send home its troops, arguing it has weakened Nato and raised questions about Europe’s security dependence on Washington.

Nothing stopped them from leaving their troops in the country. But if memory serves Europe pulled out faster and earlier than the U.S. did.

[Alberta's Child]

NATO had nothing to do with the Soviet Union. It was never anything more than an excuse for the U.S. to maintain an occupation force in Europe instead of fighting a major war there every few decades.

If you need any evidence for this, just consider something that probably seems outlandish to anyone who believes NATO was designed to protect western Europe from the Soviets: In 1954 the Soviet Union actually petitioned the governments of the U.S., Great Britain and France for permission to join NATO.

[shotgun]

All Trump did was make them pay their fair share for their own security and at the same time try to prevent them from making deals with Putin which he knew would make them subject to Putin’s regional power plays. Both of which are appalling thoughts for socialist elites.

Now Biden comes along and pulls out of Afghanistan faster than a John in a whorehouse raid by the cops and these same socialists thought Biden would protect them.

FU NATO

[SoCal Pubbie]

You left out the part where Molotov wanted to basically oust the United States from NATO by relegating the U.S. to observer status.

[dynoman]

Biden sh!ts on NATO far worse than what people hallucinated Trump did.

[foundedonpurpose]

Taiwan must be feeling secure. S/

[chuckee]

Typical posturing by the EU. They have no intention of releasing the nuclear umbrella and intelligence they get from us at no cost to them. I personally agree with those posturing over there that we should leave NATO and force them to defend themselves. They won’t.