by Rory Walkinshaw

Created on: February 25, 2009   Last Updated: February 27, 2009

With the Obama administration putting more emphasis on the war in Afghanistan, several key issues affecting American foreign policy have come to light. The first, obviously, is the need for more American ground troops in the country to stabilize Afghanistan the way the surge did in Iraq. Second, though no one seems to be acknowledging, much less taking action over this issue, America needs more support from allies in the War on Terror.

While the number of nations sending troops to Afghanistan is impressive, not all is as it seems. The list of NATO countries providing forces in the region include Turkey, France, Germany, Canada, Britain and Spain. Sounds like a grand coalition, doesn't it? Well, not really.

In Afghanistan, the United States by far maintains the highest levels of combat troops in theatre, forcing them to shoulder much of the burden of fighting al-Qaida and its Taliban allies. Although President Obama has promised to begin sending increasing numbers of U.S. soldiers into the region, what is really needed, and what would be appreciated, is an international surge as opposed to a unilateral one.

Consider these figures: France has an entire parachute commando brigade of 8,500 paratroopers, the kind of crack soldiers needed to fight in Afghanistan's rugged mountains, and 134,00 regular army troops altogether. Yet, they only contribute around 3,000 personnel to the NATO coalition. France currently does not have any major threats to fend off elsewhere. If they wanted to help the war effort more, they could certainly afford it.

Likewise with Turkey, the only Middle Eastern nation with NATO membership. The Turkish military is only contributing about 700 men, though the nation fields one of the largest standing armies in the world, with experienced special forces personnel.

Some of the smaller nations in NATO can't increase the number of troops they have deployed, such as Sweden and Ireland. This is not to downplay the wonderful assistance those countries have given the United States, but to merely emphasize the fact that the more populous nations should be contributing more.

If the war in Afghanistan is to be a coalition effort, then it must become exactly that. Everyone needs to pull a reasonable amount of their own weight in the fight against terrorism, particularly the larger, more developed nations that maintain large militaries. The U.S. cannot go it alone with only token or medium assisstance from other NATO countries.

An international surge means a shorter war, more damage to the terrorists and increased safety for Americans at home and abroad. Obama should immediately begin taking steps to persuade many of the larger countries in Europe, like France and Spain, to deploy increasing numbers of soldiers to the region.

True international alliances mean that all NATO nations, not just the U.S., should work hard to establishing security and peace in Afghanistan.

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