Gates Says NATO at Stake In Afghan Mission Debate - WSJ.com

Gates Says NATO at Stake In Afghan Mission Debate - WSJ.com

The U.S. cannot be 'alone' in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and elsewhere. NATO had best step up to its obligations to do its part. I wonder if Senators Clinton and Obama have a plan to provide for our common defense?

MUNICH, Germany -- Survival of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization alliance, a cornerstone of U.S. security policy for six decades, is at stake in the debate over how the U.S. and Europe should share the burden of fighting Islamic extremism in Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates
said Sunday.

"We must not -- we cannot -- become a two-tiered alliance of
those willing to fight and those who are not," Mr. Gates told the Munich Conference on Security Policy, where Afghanistan was a central topic. "Such a development, with all its implications for collective security, would effectively destroy the alliance."

Washington has had innumerable disputes with its NATO allies in the 59 years since the alliance was founded as a bulwark against the former
Soviet Union. But today's debate over the importance of the mission in Afghanistan and how to accomplish it was portrayed by Mr. Gates as among the most difficult ever.

A central theme of Mr. Gates's speech was his assertion that al Qaeda extremists, either in Afghanistan or elsewhere, pose a greater threat to Europe than many Europeans realize.

After delivering his prepared remarks Mr. Gates fielded questions from his audience, which included dozens of top government officials, mainly from Europe and the U.S., as well as military officers, private security specialists, members of Congress and European parliamentarians.