Beefing Up NATO

President-elect Obama's most confounding national security challenge may not lie with our enemies, but rather our allies.

Michael Yon writes

Most of our allies are not very helpful. With the exception of the British, Canadians, Dutch, and a few others such as the Aussies, we are not fighting this with an "A-team" of international allies. With a few exceptions, our allies on the ground are comprised of several dozen countries that mostly refuse to fight. The bulk of NATO amounts to little more than a "Taliban piñata." The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is proving nearly worthless and provides no credible threat to armed opposition groups (AOGs) in Afghanistan. Most of the NATO member countries seem to break out in a cold sweat at the mere mention of "Taliban." They piled in when the war looked easy and largely humanitarian. But now that it's getting harder and more dangerous, they would like to pile out.

In addition, Obama will have to figure out a way to harden the softening alliance against a newly aggressive Russian Bear. The invasion of Georgia, much like Afghanistan, forced NATO to take a hard look inward. The same western European member states vetoed the assimilation of Georgia into the treaty organization--a move that ultimately led to the Russian invasion of South Ossetia--also have refused to engage the enemy in Afghanistan.

Nearly all of the NATO nations spend less than 2 percent on defense, compared to the United States' 4 percent. The British Admiralty is in a state of open revolt with the Labour government over their neglect of the Royal Navy. German Special Forces--constrained by politicians at home--have been forced to let high-value Taliban commanders slip away. And French carrier based fighters take the weekends off.

The alliance is weak. Defense bureaucrats at home know it. Our enemies know it. So here's hoping that Obama can forge all of that newfound goodwill abroad into steely determination on the battlefield.