What are NATO's goals in Afghanistan?

The Financial Times opines today that the Riga summit has "the makings of a small disaster" but that can be salvaged by refocusing on the alliances most pressing priority: Afghanistan. The FT argues that in addition to more troops, leaders must figure out what they're trying to achieve, and that "the strategy for the Afghanistan mission -- to help the government of President Hamid Karzai extend its authority -- is too broad brush to be useful."

Nietzsche once wrote that "the most fundamental form of human stupidity is forgetting what we were trying to do in the first place." As the FT notes, the current strategy "does not sufficiently indicate what kind of end state Nato is seeking to achieve or how long its troops will remain." The problem, of course, is that there are significant differences between the allies on each of these issues--differences that won't be resolved at Riga.

Afghanistan mission
Nov 28 (Financial Times), Editorial: ...The vagueness of the strategy also helps explain the huge difference in each Nato contingent's operations - from the British who have taken the fight to Taliban-infested badlands, to the Dutch, who have focused more on reconstruction, to the Germans, seemingly averse to any combat at all. Nato leaders should set out some clear, achievable goals that would fall far short of establishing Afghanistan as a western style democracy but would leave it a more stable place...

...than today. France's idea of establishing a contact group to co-ordinate international policy for the country could be a useful first step - particularly since Nato needs to increase co-operation with the civilian institutions that will have to rebuild the country.

The alliance also needs a clear strategy for combating Afghanistan's ballooning and all-encompassing opium poppy trade.

Nato has embarked on its most important mission without thinking through how to resolve it. In spite of all the disappointments, this week's summit is a chance to put that right.

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