WASHINGTON, Sept 17: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned on Monday that Afghanistan is a “litmus test” for Nato and would be “a mark of shame on all of us” if the alliance falters in laying the foundations for democracy there.
Gates alluded to both Afghanistan and Iraq in a speech in Williamsburg, Virginia that argued for realism in advancing US values of democracy and freedom around the world.
He said US allies are reluctant to provide the necessary resources or put their people in the line of fire in Afghanistan “even though we agree that democracy is key to enduring stability there.” “Afghanistan is, in a very real sense, a litmus test of whether an alliance of advanced democracies can still make sacrifices and meet commitments to advance democracy,” he said.
“It would be a mark of shame on all of us if an alliance built on the foundation of democratic values were to falter at the very moment that it tried to lay that foundation of democracy elsewhere — especially in a mission that is crucial to our security,” he said.
Gates did not elaborate but in the past he has pressed European allies to provide more troops and equipment to the Nato-led mission in Afghanistan to counter a resurgence of the Taliban, the militant Islamist movement toppled by US-led forces in 2001.
On Iraq, Gates reiterated the administration’s arguments against a hasty withdrawal of US forces, warning that leaving Iraq and the Middle East in chaos would betray allies in the region and embolden enemies.
“To abandon an Iraq where just two years ago 12 million people quite literally risked their lives to vote for a constitutional democracy would be an offence to our interests as well as our values, a setback for the cause of freedom as well as the goal of stability,” he said.
Speaking in a cradle of democracy in colonial America, Gates argued that from its earliest days US foreign policy been shaped by a struggle between realism and idealism.
He cited George Washington’s decision not to support France after its revolution as well as the World War II alliance with Stalin, “one of history’s true monsters.”
“It is neither hypocrisy nor cynicism to believe fervently in freedom while adopting different approaches to advancing freedom at different times along the way — including temporarily making common cause with despots to defeat greater or more urgent threats to our freedom or interests,” he said.
Gates appeared to be alluding to the contradiction in US policy between a stated aim of promoting democracy in the Middle East and its support for monarchies and authoritarian regimes.
Faced with what it sees as a looming threat from Iran, the United States has shifted in recent months to strengthening military and security ties with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf states.
In Iraq, the US military is attempting to forge a separate peace with former Sunni insurgents over the resistance of a Shiite-dominated government that came to power in US-backed elections.
“We must be realists and recognize that the institutions that underpin an enduring free society can only take root over time,” Gates said.—AFP
