From the Council on Foreign Relations: Everybody in Europe understands that managing the future of Russia in regard to Europe can only be done with American engagement and, yes, to a great extent, American leadership. And they want to keep the United States equally engaged in Europe as a European power, not just as an insurance policy but also as the principal manager of Russia’s future…

In terms of motivation, very few European countries believe that winning in Afghanistan–that is, dismantling, defeating, and destroying al-Qaeda and Taliban–is necessary for their own security. A few believe that, but most do not. When they add forces, it is to protect the credibility of NATO now that it is there. NATO has never failed at anything it chose to do. Many of these governments wouldn’t repeat what they did in 2003 when they sent troops, but that’s water over the dam, and they don’t want NATO to be damaged by a failure to persevere in Afghanistan.

Most of them are doing this … to please the United States. There are two basic issues within NATO. One is the immediate issue of Afghanistan. The other is a difference of perspective about what challenges NATO faces. Most Europeans would argue that the work of wrapping up the Cold War is still not entirely finished. There are some minor issues and one huge, major issue. The minor issues are in places like the Balkans; the bigger issue is the future of Russia…

Everybody in Europe understands that managing the future of Russia in regard to Europe can only be done with American engagement and, yes, to a great extent, American leadership. Everybody can hear what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said about a resurgent Russia. They can see the growing dependence on Russian-origin or Russian-transited energy. They see what the Russians did with regard to cyber security, and particularly with regard to Estonia and Georgia where both countries’ internal communications were hacked, and they will say, “We need to be sure that the United States remains here in Europe, working with us to deal with a problem that frankly, as able as we might be at some point, we can’t deal with it unless America is here.”

Excerpts from Interview with Robert E. Hunter, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, by Bernard Gwertzman. (photo: Council on Foreign Relations)