We (we Americans that is) don't think first and foremost of Europe when we think of foreign policy, mostly because there are far bigger problems in the world from an American point of view and also because it's just been sort of driven into us for the past 50 years that we're bigger and badder than Europe and we don't have to worry about it anyhow (I'm joking.)
But we need to of course, and Matt Yglesias does in a smart column at TAP online. Money shot:
It's true, as the skeptics say, that none of this guarantees progress on what's probably the key American "ask" at this point -- our desire for European governments to send more forces to Afghanistan and/or relax restrictions on the activities of forces currently in the field. But what improved U.S. standing in Europe will do is transform the politics of the situation. At the moment, even those European political leaders who agree on the merits of the American perspective are terrified to say so. The combination of Bush's toxic unpopularity and the sense that help given to the U.S. in Afghanistan would, in effect, be assistance for what's widely viewed as a criminal enterprise in Iraq makes it a nonstarter. A new administration and a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq would clear the air. And steps to show that Europe's high hopes for Obama in terms of basic human rights, diplomatic courtesy, and engagement with issues like climate change would allow Obama to make his case to Europe's people and turn public opinion around. At a time when the United States is militarily and financially exhausted, but also desperate for a renewed approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan, that's change we need.
This seems right and sensible to me, specifically the point that any European commitment on Afghanistan will likely be preconditioned, whether officially or not, on some kind of visible evidence of US drawdown in Iraq. And even then, there are, Lord knows, legitimate reasons for European heads of state to be chary of getting too dug in Afghanistan. So this will be one of President O and Secretary C's major challenges.
