Germany and France Sidestep Commitment To More Troops In Afghanistan

When you read some of the article on this issue here at the AP you will see how the countries of Germany and France did their best to sidestep any talk, let alone commitment, to put more of their troops into the War in Afghanistan but I want you to notice something somewhat buried in the article. I'm talking about this section:

Vice President Joe Biden came to the Munich Security Conference amid expectations he would forcefully repeat President Barack Obama's calls for greater European troop deployments in Afghanistan, as Washington prepares to double American troops there to roughly 60,000.
But Biden kept his Afghan comments general in an apparent attempt to avoid a public dispute among allies.
He asked only for European "ideas and input" on a joint Afghan strategy "that brings together our civilian and military resources that prevents terrorists a safe haven and that helps Afghans develop the capacity to secure their own future."
Delegates said they thought the broad-brush approach Biden took was appropriate.

You see that? Biden avoided any strong talk with the Europeans - he wimped out on pushing them to live up to their commitments and of course, the Europeans were thrilled to be let off the hook by Biden. Contrast this with the addresses made by Secretary of Defense Gates back when George W. Bush was President when Gates layed into the Europeans with fire and brimstone. Those addresses got over 3,000 new troops earmarked for the Afghanistan operation. But no, not now, Biden via Obama want to be "friendly" - we certainly don't want to ruffle any NATO feathers while our U.S. troops are stretched to the max in Afghanistan right?

Here's some of how the Germans and French handled their comments at the conference:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported the general concept of more European military backing of the U.S. through NATO, but did not address U.S. calls for additional European deployments in Afghanistan.
"International conflicts can no longer be shouldered by one country alone," she declared. "No country can go it alone, so the cooperative approach needs to be guiding us."

The French parliament voted in September to keep 3,300 French troops in the Afghan theater, but has no current plans to increase the French contingent.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy argued for a Europe more ready to defend itself instead of relying on others, but also managed not to touch on the Afghan troops issue.

This is ridiculous. Between both Germany and France, they have a total of 4,800 troops in Afghanistan, and if the Obama administration continues with this soft glove approach, it will either STAY at 4,800 or go down.

The fact of the matter is this - both the Germans and French are reading into the fact that the Obama administration is backing down on the overall commitment to this war in Afghanistan - so in a nut shell, who's to blame for these countries sidestepping the commitment? The Europeans or the Obama administration? I say resoundingly it is the latter.

Germany, France dodge Afghanistan troop issue

But Biden kept his Afghan comments general in an apparent attempt to avoid a public dispute among allies.
He asked only for European "ideas and input" on a joint Afghan strategy "that brings together our civilian and military resources that prevents terrorists a safe haven and that helps Afghans develop the capacity to secure their own future."
Delegates said they thought the broad-brush approach Biden took was appropriate.
"Vice President Biden came to Munich today in the spirit of partnership," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told AP Television News. "I think he set an ambitious agenda with big goals and high objectives and he called and challenged us to work with him and I think that's the right spirit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported the general concept of more European military backing of the U.S. through NATO, but did not address U.S. calls for additional European deployments in Afghanistan.
"International conflicts can no longer be shouldered by one country alone," she declared. "No country can go it alone, so the cooperative approach needs to be guiding us."
Germany has argued that its military is already too stretched to send troops beyond the 4,500 maximum it has committed to the relatively calm north of Afghanistan. About 3,500 are now there. Instead, it says the focus should be on civil reconstruction in conjunction with military security.
The French parliament voted in September to keep 3,300 French troops in the Afghan theater, but has no current plans to increase the French contingent.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy argued for a Europe more ready to defend itself instead of relying on others, but also managed not to touch on the Afghan troops issue.
"Does Europe want peace, or does Europe want to be left in peace?" he asked. "If you want peace, then you ... need to have political and military power."
But NATO's exasperated secretary general, Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, said if Europe wants a greater voice, it needs to do more.
"The Obama administration has already done a lot of what Europeans have asked for including announcing the closure of Guantanamo and a serious focus on climate change," he said. "Europe should also listen; When the United States asks for a serious partner, it does not just want advice, it wants and deserves someone to share the heavy lifting."
De Hoop Scheffer added the same principle applies to Russian requests to be involved in Washington's plans to place a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.