Stop NATO News: April 28, 2011
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Updates on Libyan war: April 28
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CIA, Pentagon, NATO Afghan Command: U.S. Reshuffles Posts
U.S. Billion Dollar Democracy: Model For The World
International Investigation Needed Into Kosovo Murder-For-Organs Trade
Turkey: Bosnia And Serbia Should Join NATO
Three NATO Soldiers Killed In Afghan Attacks
Afghan War: U.S. Marine General Praises USMC-Trained Georgian Troops
NATO Festival Begins In Norfolk, Virginia
NATO Trains Iraqi Proxy Army In Europe, At Home
Polish Navy “Makes History” In Leading NATO Naval Group
U.S. Forecasts 50 Percent Growth In World Energy Demand
South Asian Asymmetries, U.S. Drone Warfare And The Peloponnesian War
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CIA, Pentagon, NATO Afghan Command: U.S. Reshuffles Posts
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/04/28/49586948.html
[Panetta will be the second defense secretary in a row who had been a director of the CIA.]
Voice of Russia
April 28, 2011
Big reshuffle in Obama’s administration ahead
Sergei Sayenko
President Obama is making new appointments for top security jobs in his administration. On Thursday the US president is expected to name the country’s new defense secretary, CIA director, NATO forces commander in Afghanistan and US ambassador to Afghanistan.
CIA Director Leon Panetta will be nominated to take over from Robert Gates as US defense secretary. General David Petraeus, the US head of international forces in Afghanistan, will be nominated as CIA director, and his post will go to Lieutenant General John Allen, currently deputy head of US Central Command. Veteran diplomat with 37-year experience Ryan Crocker will become the next US ambassador to Afghanistan, taking over from Karl Eikenberry, whose term is running out and who failed to hit it off with President Hamid Karzai.
All four candidacies are likely to sail smoothly through the Senate given that even the Republicans have nothing against them. The appointment of Leon Panetta is likely to be approved in July, and David Petraeus will be able to get down to work as CIA chief at the beginning of September.
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As for Gen Petraeus, who led the US and international forces during the war in Iraq and took over leading NATO forces in Afghanistan from Gen Stanley McChrystal in summer last year, he will have to explore new ground. An army general, straightforward and used to open warfare, the secret war run by the CIA might be a challenge, to say the least.
Lt Gen Allen is likely to find it easier in Afghanistan, having served in the army and boasting enough experience in conducting military operations. His success will largely depend on whether he will be able to find common language with the Afghan leadership and the country’s new Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Crocker is familiar with work in hot spots, having served as US ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Syria and Lebanon.
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In reality, the situation in Afghanistan is challenging, to say the least.
Many fear that there can be Taliban fighters among Afghan security services recruits and that they might attack coalition servicemen and foreigners. Wednesday’s incident at Kabul Airport in which an Afghan pilot killed eight US servicemen, is glaring proof of that. Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident. All this testifies to the highly explosive situation in Afghanistan.
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U.S. Billion Dollar Democracy: Model For The World
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/04/28/49592701.html
Voice of Russia
April 28, 2011
How much does it cost to get into the White House?
Valentin Zorin
-Chasing votes is nothing unusual for American democracy. And it’s no longer a secret that top jobs in Washington are up for sale….[A] seat in the House of Representatives cost more than one million dollars during the last elections, a seat in the Senate cost much more. Many politicians, the report says, are elected to Congress just because no one else can top them with money.
-Recently the US Supreme Court gave Washington political sponsors a free hand, de facto disabling the laws that ban corporations from financing candidates.
-There are quite a few in Washington who see that as genuine democracy. They are ready to advise others on democratic elections but should actually start with themselves.
How much money do you need to get the job of US president? One billion dollars for a start, say those who oversee Barack Obama’s election campaign ahead of presidential elections in November 2012. The organizers of the campaign plan to raise the needed sum over the next few months. To this end, the election headquarters has moved from Washington to Chicago, which is home to one of the most powerful financial and industrial groups, which has invested over four billion dollars in President Obama’s political career.
The organizers of the presidential campaign talk openly about what it costs to secure votes in favor of a candidate. Chasing votes is nothing unusual for American democracy. And it’s no longer a secret that top jobs in Washington are up for sale.
Commenting on the outcome of the 2010 election, Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said that it was money that won on the November election day. There is a special chart according to which a seat in the House of Representatives cost more than one million dollars during the last elections, a seat in the Senate cost much more. Many politicians, the report says, are elected to Congress just because no one else can top them with money.
The Center for Responsive Politics described the election campaign last autumn as the costliest in US history. The campaign bills ran into billions of dollars. And some candidates’ expenses amounted to six-digit figures, the Center’s report says. For one, Meg Whitman, a candidate for California Governor from the Republican Party, spent 140 million dollars.
The Republicans succeeded in the elections because they were loaded with more dollars than their Democratic rivals. When asked where the money came from, Barack Obama replied with a sincerity uncommon for Washington officials that it could come from oil companies, insurance businesses or Wall Street. Nobody knows, where, the president said, as they keep their mouths shut and financial flows channels open.
Recently the US Supreme Court gave Washington political sponsors a free hand, de facto disabling the laws that ban corporations from financing candidates. The judges said that they proceeded from freedom of expression guaranteed by the country’s Constitution. They provided no explanation though, as to what connection they saw between this constitutional principle and undisguised bribery.
There are quite a few in Washington who see that as genuine democracy. They are ready to advise others on democratic elections but should actually start with themselves.
The one billion dollars which the organizers of the campaign from the Democratic Party are rushing to raise may spell an unprecedented in scale election race. Naturally, the Republicans aren’t lagging behind, particularly since Wall Street is definitely prone to back them.
The election battle of American fat cats has got under way.
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International Investigation Needed Into Kosovo Murder-For-Organs Trade
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/04/28/49595923.html
Voice of Russia
April 28, 2011
“Black” transplantology in Kosovo: international investigation needed
Timur Blokhin
-”[T]rafficking in human organs is a profitable type of business, in which some people in Kosovo were engaged earlier and that there are people who remain engaged in it now too. Such crimes were committed during the conflict with NATO, and the majority of people disappeared exactly at that period of time – according to our information, 300 to 500 people are listed missing, who, again according to our information, disappeared in the north of Albania.”
Serbia’s proposal for the establishment of an independent investigative body with a mandate of the UN Security Council is expected to be considered in New York in the middle of May. The new body will tackle the cases of human organ trafficking in Kosovo. The Serbian side came up with this proposal after consultations between Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Yeremic and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. During his visit to Belgrade on April 19th he said that regarding this issue, Moscow would offer Serbia its support.
Despite the loud words – just those – of the international community to the effect that criminals have no nationality, it is very hard to deny the fact of the 10-year-long “demonization” of the Serbs by Western media.
What appeared as a result was Dick Marti’s report about the “black” transplantology in Kosovo and about the involvement of the current Kosovo ruling clique in this dirty business, which came as a bombshell.
In an exclusive interview with Voice of Russia correspondents, who visited Serbia during their business trip, Serbian Deputy Prosecutor Bruno Vekaric answered a few questions concerning this subject.
“What is meant here are several people having information about human organ trafficking in Europe of today. That is why if we start divulging the details just now, this may hamper the on-going developments in the investigation. However, there’s still one thing we should stress here – that many people tried to give a political colour to this matter while we are sure that this is a classical example of a criminal business.”
Belgrade politologists fear that after the shocking information concerning the human organ trafficking in Kosovo came to the surface, the members of the world community will do their utmost so that the investigations dedicated to all these facts will remain deeply hidden.
“Let’s proceed from the analysis of the current state of affairs in Kosovo. The so –called ‘grey zone’ accounts for approximately 60 per cent of business there. And we start believing that trafficking in human organs is a profitable type of business, in which some people in Kosovo were engaged earlier and that there are people who remain engaged in it now too. Such crimes were committed during the conflict with NATO, and the majority of people disappeared exactly at that period of time – according to our information, 300 to 500 people are listed missing, who, again according to our information, disappeared in the north of Albania.”
So why do the Albanian prosecutors refuse to take part in the investigation?
“For political reasons, I believe”, Bruno Vekaric says, adding the following: “We have an agreement on cooperation with the Albanian prosecutors, which was signed back in 2005, and we would like to conduct a joint investigation on its basis.
“Had such an investigation been carried out at that time, there’s reason to believe that Marti’s report would have never appeared. We have proved that that there were camps of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the north of Albania and that there were special medical centres in four of them where surgical operations, possibly, were performed. Western channels interviewed witnesses in this case. And after all, Dick Marti’s report does exist. Therefore, we should not turn a blind eye to that. The Albanian side refuses to cooperate on this issue. Albania even did not allow Dick Marti to check some facts on its territory.
“And as regards Kosovo and Metohija, it is in the interests of the Albanian leader Hashim Thachi that the investigation should be completed since he says that he was not involved. Because otherwise, he will remain suspected of committing crimes unprecedented in their cruelty.”
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Turkey: Bosnia And Serbia Should Join NATO
Associated Press
April 28, 2011
Turkey: Bosnia and Serbia should join NATO, EU
Turkey wants to help turn the war-ravaged Balkans into a region of cooperation with a joint future in the European Union and NATO, the Turkish president said Tuesday, as part of his country’s increased involvement in the region where it has historic influence.
“It is our desire to have the whole region united under a wider umbrella of the European Union and NATO,” Abdullah Gul said after talks with Serbia’s President Boris Tadic and the three members of Bosnia’s multiethnic presidency.
“We believe that the Balkans is not at the end of Europe, but that it is the heart of Europe,” Gul said. “We want to … strengthen cooperation and move jointly toward solving burning issues.”
The talks at the Karadjordjevo residency near the border with Croatia came a year after Turkey hosted a similar summit in Istanbul, aimed at bringing former Balkan foes Serbia and Bosnia closer together.
Turkey’s diplomatic initiative illustrates its bid to renew its influence in the Balkans stemming from centuries-long Ottoman rule and close ties with the region’s Muslims.
“Turkey has its historic reasons and … legitimate interests for its presence in the Balkans,” Serbia’s president Tadic said. “We want the entire region to be integrated into the European Union as soon as possible … this is our main political goal.”
Tadic pledged to put the past behind and “create a better future” for the region that was in the 1990s engulfed in the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.
Tadic did not elaborate on Gul’s proposed NATO ties. The issue is sensitive among the Serbs because of the Western military alliance’s 1999 bombing of Serbia that ended Belgrade’s rule over Kosovo, Serbia’s former province.
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Three NATO Soldiers Killed In Afghan Attacks
http://channel6newsonline.com/2011/04/three-coalition-service-members-die-in-afghan-attacks-4/
BNO News
April 28, 2011
Three coalition service members die in Afghan attacks
KABUL: Three coalition service members were killed in two separate attacks in eastern and southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed on Friday.
ISAF said a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan killed two of its service members, while an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan claimed a third service member. The nationalities of the service members were not immediately disclosed. “It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities,” a brief statement said.
Coalition casualties in Afghanistan have been rising sharply in recent years, with a total coalition death toll of 709 in 2010, making it the deadliest year for international troops since the war….
So far this year, more than 155 coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan. Most troops are killed in the country’s south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians.
On Wednesday, one of the deadliest days so far this year for coalition troops, eight American service members were killed when an Afghan military officer opened fire at an air force base at North Kabul International Airport. An American civilian with ISAF was also killed.
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Afghan War: U.S. Marine General Praises USMC-Trained Georgian Troops
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23387
Civil Georgia
April 28, 2011
U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Praises Georgian Troops in Afghanistan
Tbilisi: U.S. Marine Corps General Richard Mills, a former commander of coalition forces in southwest Afghanistan, praised Georgian troops serving in the coalition forces for “absolutely superb work.”
Speaking with journalists in Washington on April 27, Gen. Mills, who oversaw operations in the Afghan Helmand and Nimruz provinces from April 2010 until earlier this month, gave some details of assignments undertaken by the Georgian forces under his commend.
Two Georgian battalions – the 31st and 32nd from the 3rd infantry brigade – were serving in Afghanistan under Mills’ command. Georgia started rotating its 32nd battalion with the 33rd battalion earlier this month.
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“Georgians like to fight, they are professional soldiers, who understand what their tasks are and they are more than willing to carry them out. As a matter of fact they asked if they could be given even more duties and so one of their companies was sent to help out in place called Sangin…where a rather significant battle is being fought…,,” Gen. Mills said.
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Gen. Mills said in Sangin the Georgian company was given “a tough” tasks against “a very determined enemy.”
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He also said that as part of the assistance, the U.S. Marines provided the Georgian troops with “correct vehicles to resist mines.”
With the latest death reported on March 14, the total number of Georgian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since joining the NATO-led operation in November, 2009 increased to seven.
Georgia first deployed a company-sized unit in Afghanistan in November, 2009 and increased its contribution to the NATO-led forces to about 950 soldiers in April, 2010 after sending a battalion to Helmand. In February the Georgian Parliament approved the government’s proposal to send to Afghanistan a team of artillery instructors to train the Afghan military.
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NATO Festival Begins In Norfolk, Virginia
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Transformation
April 27, 2011
Flag raising kicks off annual Norfolk NATO festival
Written by U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Chris Carrothers
-”[W]e take it above all as a salute to the brave men and women from all our nations who, as we speak, are serving in Afghanistan, over Libya, off the Horn of Africa and elsewhere….”
NORFOLK, Va. – Despite an unseasonably rainy day, Norfolk community leaders joined with staff from Allied Command Transformation to kick-off the Norfolk NATO festival with a flag raising ceremony at the ACT headquarters flag complex yesterday.
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation French Air Force General Stéphane Abrial presided over the ceremony, which officially begins Norfolk’s NATO Festival.
The ceremony began with the raising of all 28 NATO member nations, with the U.S. flags hoisted on the ceremonial flag poles. Once the flags were in place, Abrial addressed the guests and staff.
“We greatly appreciate the NATO festival as a heartfelt gesture towards ACT personnel, but we also know that it goes beyond: we take it above all as a salute to the brave men and women from all our nations who, as we speak, are serving in Afghanistan, over Libya, off the Horn of Africa and elsewhere, putting themselves in harm’s way for the sake of our common security and our shared values.”
“And no symbol, perhaps, demonstrates this more clearly than the flags of all our nations rising in a ripple of colour during today’s ceremony.”
Next to speak was Ambassador to the Norfolk NATO Festival U.S. Navy Petty Officer first Class Carla Burdt who is also HQ SACT’s Military Member of the Year for 2011. Burdt emphasized the long-standing friendship between Norfolk and the international military community that the festival represents.
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After Petty Officer Burdt’s address she was presented with the Mace of the city of Norfolk by Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim. The mace was a colonial-era symbol of the authority bestowed by English royalty and was originally presented to the Norfolk Common Council by then Royal Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie April 1, 1754. Fraim then addressed the guest and staff.
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Following the addresses, the Atlantic Fleet Band passed in review, while playing a mixture of U.S. and NATO songs….
This is one of several events leading up to the main week of the annual Norfolk NATO Festival April 26-30. Other events also include a parade in downtown Norfolk followed by a salute to NATO Nations at Town Point Park.
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NATO Trains Iraqi Proxy Army In Europe, At Home
http://www.aco.nato.int/page424204844.aspx
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
April 27, 2011
NATO Training Mission-Iraq Deputy Commander meets Iraq’s Chief of Defence
-[Italian Army Maj. Gen Claudio Angelelli and Iraqi Army Gen. Babakir Zebari] discussed training to be conducted at the Iraqi International Academy, where, once established, Iraq will have the premier Advanced Military Studies Complex in the Gulf Region; and the development of a Structured Cooperation Framework as a fundamental instrument for a long-term relationship between NATO and Iraq.
BAGHDAD – NATO Training Mission-Iraq Deputy Commander, Italian Army Maj. Gen Claudio Angelelli, met with Iraq’s Chief of Defence, Iraqi Army Gen. Babakir Zebari, here to discuss Iraqi military training conducted outside Iraq April 25.
During the meeting the two discussed efforts to better coordinate training courses conducted outside Iraq, of particular interest is a one-week long logistics course.
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In addition to the logistics course several other significant achievements have been accomplished in recent months, including: Iraq’s Operational Centres achieving self-sustainable capability at the ministerial level (Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence and Prime Minister Office) last November and other completed courses as well as many currently in progress. Additionally, NATO has provided the Iraqi military with more than 112.2 million Euros worth of needed equipment through the Equipment Donation Programme.
They also discussed training to be conducted at the Iraqi International Academy, where, once established, Iraq will have the premier Advanced Military Studies Complex in the Gulf Region; and the development of a Structured Cooperation Framework as a fundamental instrument for a long-term relationship between NATO and Iraq.
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Mission
The NTM-I mission has always been fundamentally concerned with structures and institutions – building and developing enduring, national self-sustaining capabilities in the Iraqi Security Forces. Furthermore, NTM-I has always been a relatively small, tactical size organization, with limited resources but one that has had a strategic impact on Iraq.
Mission statement
Provide training and assistance to the Iraqi Security Forces in order to contribute to the development of Iraqi training structures and institutions, so that Iraq can continue to build effective and sustainable multi-ethnic security forces which address the security needs of the Iraqi people.
Participating nations
The NATO Training Mission-Iraq (NTM-I) was established in 2004 at the request of the Iraqi Interim Government under the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1546 and currently, the NTM-I footprint is a small tactical force of around 170 NATO/PfP personnel, representing 14 member nations (as of April 2011) as part of 28 NATO countries.
14 member nations: Albania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania Turkey, Ukraine (Partnership for Peace), UK, USA.
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Polish Navy “Makes History” In Leading NATO Naval Group
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-36FEC94C-5571C740/natolive/news_72943.htm
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
April 28, 2011
Polish naval command makes NATO history
Making history is not something every commander can say when they hand over the rotational lead of one of NATO’s maritime groups. For Commander Krzysztof Jan Rybak, completing a year at the helm of NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Maritime Group 1 (SNMCMG1), meant he was the first ever Pole to lead Alliance ships.
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The Polish Navy initiated Poland’s involvement in NATO manoeuvres in 1993. Since then, as one of the newer members of NATO (1999), Poland has been participating in various NATO operations and training.
“Leading the group proved that even though Poland is the youngest member-country to take over we were well prepared to lead multinational forces throughout 2010,” says Cdr. Rybak. “Back then we were writing a completely new page in the history of the Polish Navy, and I was starting a new chapter in my personal career.”
NATO has 4 standing maritime groups – Standing NATO Maritime Groups (SNMG) 1 and 2 and Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Maritime Groups (SNMCMG) 1 and 2. Each is comprised of between three to five ships on rotational cycles. While ships in these groups are not always on active operation, they continue to conduct exercises all year round.
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U.S. Forecasts 50 Percent Growth In World Energy Demand
http://en.trend.az/capital/energy/1868364.html
Trend News Agency
April 28, 2011
U.S. forecasts 50-percent growth of world demand for energy resources
A. Badalova
Baku: World demand for energy resources will grow by 50 percent from 2009 to 2035, the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) reported in its annual report on the energy review.
The major part of the growth during this period will be accounted for by countries which are not members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where energy consumption will increase by 84 percent. In the developed OECD countries, this figure will hit 14 percent.
Among the countries that are not OECD members, the maximum growth in energy consumption for the period from 2009 to 2035 will be observed in the Middle East at 82 percent and in Africa and Central and South America at 63 percent.
According to the EIA forecasts, the consumption of liquid hydrocarbons in the OECD countries will rise to 47.9 million barrels per day in 2035, while in countries that are not members of this organization to 62.9 million barrels per day.
In the case of high oil prices by that year (about $200 per barrel), the consumption of liquid hydrocarbons in the OECD countries according to the EIA expectations will fall to 53.1 million barrels per day. In countries that are not members of the organization, on the contrary, an increase will be observed in energy consumption against the backdrop of high GDP growth. According to the EIA forecasts, the level of energy consumption in these countries in 2035 will hit 70 million barrels per day.
EIA forecasts the world’s liquid hydrocarbon production from non-traditional sources in 2035 at 10.4, 13.5, or 19.4 million barrels per day, depending on the scenario of changes in world oil prices.
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South Asian Asymmetries, U.S. Drone Warfare And The Peloponnesian War
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=88878
Pakistan Observer
April 29, 2011
Symmetry of asymmetries
Abid Latif Sindhu
Imperialism is a strange thing; by default it is taken as a de jure phenomenon for the smart and the beautiful. The West even coined euphemistic terms like Islamic Imperialism and Oriental Militarism, whereas nothing of this sort exists in the Muslim world. The Madina state, the Abbasids, the Omayyad, the Moguls and even the Ottomans were not imperialist in their intent. They were not even expansionist.
At the maximum these were self-satisfying monarchies with aggrandizing politics of the durbars. Is imperialism a Western theory of subjugation?
Modern history is full of Western hegemony and drive for Oriental and backyard colonialism.
It is said that history repeats itself. Now it is believed that history comes in concentric circles; the Romans invaded surrounding countries three millenniums ago on the plea that the Roman law applies the world over and authorized them to take action anywhere to secure the mainland from even future threats.
What a historical analogy with the present day USA state establishment!
Uncle Sam has come to this region to probably teach a lesson or two in intellectual history. The AfPak is a strategy of America and its allies to create or achieve symmetry in the sphere of regional power politics.
Amongst the states it is almost achievable, thanks to the strings attached with the tag of globalization, but things a little more primitive than the states in this part of world are really difficult to control and tame.
Here then come the drones, the Roman way or the traditional Ku Klux Klan with a bang. The Peloponnesian War is the most important historic simile of the present day problems in Afghanistan and the Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Three things played important parts in the conduct of this war: one, the repeated campaigning season of summer; second, the motivating and incisive speeches of both the Spartan and Athenian Generals at every stage of war; and thirdly, the absence of religion and theocratic inferences.
If the AfPak policy is designed on these lines, then the chances of success are increased, so Uncle Sam gets a leaf from history and makes General Peterson read the Peloponnesian War. It is said that already Thucydides is the favorite author of many American generals engaged in this war and the Peloponnesian War is on their coffee tables. The situation on the ground is getting more complexed, the political cam is not even creating a torque by a single degree.
Drones are proving to be anathema to the complete matrix of this war; the protagonist who uses it as a force multiplier is actually losing whatever little power left in the military system which is waging this war.
Any war which has murkier tones of engagement is going to be an unending affair. The players the USA, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Taliban and the bold and beautiful CIA along the ISI are protagonists. The March 17 drone attack emerges as another Gordian knot after the Raymond Davis case. It targeted the jirga of the Madda Khel tribe which was called to solve an inter-tribe sale of a chromite mine at Datta Khel. Drones are being used as the unilateral weapon of choice; these are more of a political destabilizer than a force multiplier.
The Pakistan government has now reached a point where it cannot take more of these attacks. The military is also getting jittery on the subject.
Over 700 drone attacks are enough to disturb the barometric readings of any nation or people. To counter the negative atmospherics of the tribal region, especially North Waziristan, General Kayani announced the construction of an 80-kilometer road from Bannu to Ghulam Khan, the border town at the Pak Afghan border and the most important crossing place for trade and tribal movements for centuries. Another irritant in the regional distemper between Pakistan and USA is the presence of intelligence operatives in Pakistan.
Once the ISI chief protested on the issue in Washington; he was told that the number is difficult to reduce, rather it is a matter which cannot be take into account Pakistan’s perspective.
On the other hand Pakistan has showed its willingness to allow the Taliban to open an office in Turkey, magnanimity at its best. For the USA it will be difficult to leave Afghanistan in the hands of Afghan national forces, which are still in their seminal stage. Afghanistan and the tribal region of Pakistan are at the historical equinox, whether night prevails or the dawn emerges is a million dollar question which can only be answered by getting the priorities right at the grass root levels of engagement.
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A NATO Festival in Norfolk, Virginia! What fun!
The USA somehow manages to claim it is a democracy, and preach to others (with military backing) about democracy and “partnerships for peace”, urging them all to devote more resources to “defence” against mythical enemies. Buying US weapons is, of course, the main aim once the vassals are part of the gang. Russia has to be kept as an adversary, though communism, the big bugbear, has gone. Peace would be a disaster, as it would for Israel.