Unpopular Afghan war presents challenge to NATO

[unhappycamper]

Policemen patrol in a mall in Lisbon, on the eve of a NATO summit of heads of states and government. The Afghan war is the main topic on the agenda.


Unpopular Afghan war presents challenge to NATO
By Laura King and Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times
November 18, 2010|2:15 p.m.

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and London — What NATO talks about when it talks about Afghanistan depends largely on who's listening.

A series of carefully calibrated messages on the direction of the 9-year-old war, each aimed at a different audience, will emanate from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit beginning Friday in Lisbon.

To a war-weary European constituency: There's an exit strategy.

To a conflicted American public, whose troops are bearing the brunt of rising battlefield casualties: Things are going better militarily, but it will still take some time.

~snip~

"The Europeans have been asking themselves the questions that Americans are now beginning to ask: 'Why? What're we there for? What exactly do we want to achieve?' " said Giles Merritt, director of Security & Defense Agenda, a Brussels-based think tank.



unhappycamper comment: NATO is trying to frame the Afghanistan quagmire into something 'acceptable'.