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comingyearsduetotheplannedcutsintheU.S.budgetandtheend
ofmajorU.S.-ledcombatoperations,butthegapinburden-sharing
isstillstaggering.Theproblemmaynotlieintheunavailabilityofthe
crucialU.S.assets:theoperationinLibyashowedthefeasibilityofthe
U.S.contributingtoNATOsuccesswiththedeploymentofanumber
ofcrucialenablerssuchasISRandrefuelingcapabilities.Themain
issuemaybepolitical,assignaledbytheU.S.secretaryofdefence
RobertGates,ina2011speechatNATOwhenhewarnedthatthere
willbe“dwindlingappetiteandpatience”intheU.S.to“expend
increasinglypreciousfundsonbehalfofnationsthatareapparently
unwillingtodevotethenecessaryresourcesormakethenecessary
changestobeseriousandcapablepartnersintheirowndefence.”The
expectationsthattheUkrainiancrisiswillprovideawake-upcallfor
theEuropeanalliesandleadtohigherand“smarter”spending
ondefencemaybetoooptimistic.Itshouldhoweveratleastprovide
anumberofgovernmentswithagoodargumentnottocutbudgetsand
capabilitiesfurther,aswellastocontinuewithbilateralandregional
militarycooperationprojectsthatseemtobemoresuccessful
inorganisingpoolingandsharingthangrandNATO-wideschemes.
Thirdly,lessonslearnedfromAfghanistanandotheroperations,
whichhavebeenidentifiedbythecontributorstothepresentissue
ofthePolishQuarterly,shouldinformthinkingnotonlyaboutfuture
crisismanagementoperations,butalsootheraspectsofthefunctioning
ofthealliance.Assuringabroadmatchbetweenthegoals
ofanoperationandthecapabilitiesathandwasoneofthemajor
problemsinAfghanistan,madeworsebytheslowpaceatwhich
governmentsreactedtothechangingsituationontheground,and
bythecomplexrelationshipwiththelocalstructures.Workonthe
implementationofthecomprehensiveapproachbothwithinNATO
(involvementofnon-militaryexperts)andacrosstheboard
(internationalorganisations,NGOs,otherstates)provedtobeequally
challenging.NATOcountriesseemedtohavealsolostdecisivelyinthe
struggletopersuadetheirpublicsthattheAfghanmissionwasworth
thesacrificesinbloodandtreasure.Onthepositiveside,itshould
beunderlinedthatthealliance(spurredbytheU.S.surgeunder
Obama)provedcapableofadjustingitsstrategyandtacticstothe
circumstancesand,whenfacedwiththeprospectofISAF’sfailure,
overcamethemostdamagingdivisionsbetweenthealliesregarding
issuessuchascaveatsandburden-sharing.Notwithstandingallthe
