On September 5, 2009, the commanding officer of NATO's German troops in
Afghanistan ordered a U.S. Air Force fighter to destroy two fuel trucks
hijacked by theTaliban. Within hours, he was being investigated by
German prosecutors for the murder of innocent civilians--collateral
damage. Under German law its forces can only be deployed for
peacekeeping; America might be at war in Afghanistan, but Germany is
not.
Germany is not the only country that sets strict conditions on its NATO
troops. Half of the allied forces in Afghanistan operate under
restricted battlefield conditions. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower stormed the
beaches of Normandy with an Allied army that followed his every command;
in Afghanistan military commanders must consult a checklist to figure
out which allied soldiers can be sent into battle.
NATO today is a shadow of what it used to be--the world's most
formidable military alliance. Its original reason for existence, the
Soviet Union, disintegrated years ago, and its dreams of being a world
cop are withering in the mountains of Afghanistan. But eliminating NATO
is not the answer, argues Sarwar Kashmeri. It is, for Americans and
Europeans, still the safety net of last resort. Kashmeri believes NATO's
future usefulness depends on its ability to partner with CSDP, Europe's
increasingly successful security and defense establishment. It is time
for NATO 2.0, a new version of NATO, to fit the realities of the
twenty-first century.
