Stop Slapping the Allies, Secretary Gates

NATO was formed as a defensive alliance: to protect Western Europe from the Soviet Union. Now, with the war in Afghanistan testing NATO’s ability to shift gears and become an offensive union, the organization seems to be failing. Participation has been lackluster, and efforts to coordinate NATO actions have consistently undermined efforts to fight the Taliban and insurgents. The threadbare state of the coalition begs the question: is NATO really fit to become a global counterinsurgency force? Its presence may be discouraging other, more relevant players from getting involved in the conflict, and the regional, North Atlantic lines along which it was originally formed have little to do with the problems in Afghanistan. Obviously a multinational force is necessary to deal with the situation in Afghanistan, but trying to make NATO such a force may just break an alliance that could still be valuable for other tasks. – YaleGlobal