From the Editors of the Washington Post: The war in Afghanistan has threatened to break the NATO alliance – regardless of the outcome of the war itself. The historic decision by the transatlantic organization to take on that difficult mission far from its base in Europe exposed critical and possibly irremediable weaknesses, from the reluctance of many governments to send troops into combat to their lack of helicopters, armored vehicles or training for counterinsurgency operations. …
Given this record, NATO’s Lisbon summit meeting last weekend was encouraging. All of the alliance’s members – and the more than 20 other nations that have joined the international force in Afghanistan – signed on to a plan to continue the mission until at least the end of 2014. The goal is to transfer lead security responsibility to Afghan forces by the end of that period, though U.S. and other Western troops will still be needed for training and backup. …
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen deserves credit for rallying governments behind the plan, as does the Obama administration – whose 2011 timetable for beginning withdrawals had disconcerted and confused many of the allies. (photo: Getty)
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