Europe Still Doesn’t Have a Realistic Alternative to NATO – World Politics Review

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Europes inability to prevent or alleviate the chaos of the departureor even to have some influence over the withdrawal timeline and logisticsdespite European NATO members 20-year involvement in Afghanistan has been felt as a deep humiliation here. In an interview Tuesday, European Council President Charles Michel offered some scathing criticism of the U.S., noting that Washingtons NATO allies showed solidarity by invoking the alliances Article 5 mutual defense clause after 9/11, while the U.S. made very few if any consultations with their European partners on withdrawal from Afghanistan. But Michel was no less scathing in his criticism of Europes dependence on the United States. Europes humiliation in Afghanistan, he added, must prompt us Europeans to look in the mirror and ask ourselves: How can we have more influence in the geopolitical sphere in the future than we do today? ...

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Europe Still Doesn't Have a Realistic Alternative to NATO - World Politics Review