Gates challenges NATO

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Gates challenges NATO
By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, February 11, 2008

MUNICH, Germany — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, while expressing appreciation for the contributions of NATO members in Afghanistan, asked European political and military leaders Sunday if they could “dig deeper” and bring more to a fight that poses a “serious threat” to global security.

The assertion that world peace hangs in the balance if the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan fails was met with a degree of skepticism in some corners during an international conference on security in Munich.

At the very least, some delegates — from a leader of the German Green Party to a high-ranking official in the Russian Duma — seemed at times to be wagging a finger at the United States.

Who got distracted from Afghanistan in the first place, the German asked during a question-and-answer session after Gates’ speech.

But Gates, as well as other military and political leaders in attendance, repeatedly said during the three-day conference that success in Afghanistan is vital, not just to NATO, the United States and Europe, but to the rest of the world.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52387