Worth noting, given my repeated warnings over fading European commitment to the NATO Afghanistan mission: the German parliament just formally approved the plan to add a thousand troops over the next fourteen months, bringing Germany’s total deployment to 4500, third behind the U.S. and Britain.
Behind that silver lining, however, lurks a cloud:
Merkel, supported by the Defense Ministry, did not want the mission tobe used by her political opponents during the federal election campaignnext year, particularly since there is growing public opposition tocontinuing German military involvement inAfghanistan.
Apparently when we export democracy, it leaves less to go around back home.