Thursday, July 24, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

How Will Germans Greet Obama's Afghanistan Remarks?

If there was any section of Obama's speech that was worth some real applause, it was this section:

This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe’s borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.

It even took a smidgen of political courage to send that message to a German audience, although Obama did keep his comments pretty generic — something like, "we need more than 40 communications specialists from this country fighting in the south, where the Taliban and al-Qaeda are making their stand" would have been more on-target, but probably would have been booed.

If Barack Obama can convince the Germans to contribute more to the mission in Afghanistan, God bless him, I mean that. But today he probably had a sense of how difficult it will be to get more resources out of Germany. Chancellor Merkel, while a gracious host, emphasized that she has "no plans to go beyond pledges made last month for the NATO-led ISAF mission." Additionally, a poll in February showed 85 percent opposed to sending German troops to the south of Afghanistan.

Germans love Obama. But will they make concessions to him?

07/24 03:42 PMShare