About That Special Relationship
Brit Army chief says he’s ready to send more to Afghanistan, subject to political approval. Times of London:
The head of the Army is ready to send up to 2,000 extra troops to Afghanistan amid fears that the US-led mission will struggle without significant reinforcements.
General Sir Richard Dannatt told The Times yesterday that elements of 12 Mechanised Brigade — which had been training for deployment to Iraq but were later stood down — had been “earmarked for Afghanistan”.
Downing Street is involved in discussions about a surge. An increase of about 2,000 would take Britain’s troop strength to 10,000. Any decision would require Cabinet approval.
May want to work on that special relationship, Mr. President. Some Brit combat troops might get some use out of the accordions the French have promised. So how special is that relationship, anyway?
Senior Nato diplomatic sources told The Times that no meaningful offers were expected from any alliance member apart from Britain. Italy and Poland are planning to send small increases but only during the campaign for the Afghan presidential election, due to be held on August 20.
…
Mr Hutton also gave a broad hint in a speech yesterday that Britain was considering sending more troops. “We remain, as we have been on many occasions in this past century, grateful to the United States for the leadership that she has shown time and again since 2001 in rooting out extremism and terrorism in Afghanistan,” he said. “But Europe must do more, and it is in our interest to do more.”
That’s pretty special.
Financial Times with a rave review of what the Brits are doing in Helmand from NATO’s Dutch chief.
In other special relationships, Aussie PM Kevin Rudd tells Obama that Australia’s in Afghanistan “for the long haul.” An army of 26,000 regulars, already engaged in other peacekeeping missions closer to home, has 1,100 combat troops fighting and dying there. In other Australian military news, by the way, Victoria Cross recipient/young dad Mark Donaldson has been given permission to return to combat.
Big shout out to Canada and the Netherlands … will be sorry to see you go … also, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Italy … which reportedly has engaged in some righteous Tali-whacking despite a theoretical restraint on use of its force … and others that have committed troops in combat. Be nice to see a little more from the Muslim world, given … you know. Turkey, the UAE and Jordan are the only reported sightings.
Topics: Afghanistan, Britain, Obama
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:48 am on Friday, March 27, 2009
2 Responses to “About That Special Relationship”
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March 27th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I heard that the extra troops were a quid pro quo for another 25 DvD’s. Apparently all of the “Bring it On” colection will get us a squadron of SAS guys.
Well…..that’s what I heard.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Plus the entire set of “Girls Gone Wild”, TSO. And they have to be in European format.