Is your NATO ally failing to meet their obligation in Afghanistan?
Then you negotiating stand point can and should include a reminder that 1600 of your troops who are twiddling their thumbs in a central European country could have to be pulled out of there in order to cover for said ally.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will consider shifting U.S. troops from Kosovo to Afghanistan next year if NATO Allies do not fulfill their commitments, U.S. government officials said.
Gates, in Ukraine on Sunday to ask eastern European countries for help in the war, had first considered laying the threat before NATO defense ministers this week at a meeting in the Netherlands, senior U.S. officials said.
But upon the advice of senior military officers, the Pentagon chief has extended the U.S. commitment to Kosovo to summer 2008. If NATO allies have not sent more troops, trainers and equipment to Afghanistan by then, Washington will consider pulling its 1,600 troops out of NATO’s Kosovo force, KFOR.
Remember “Home By Christmas”? Maybe it’ll be this Christmas.