Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates talks with U.S. airmen deployed to the A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft maintenance unit at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, on Sept. 17, 2008. Gates is in Southwest Asia to meet with Iraqi and Afghan leaders and to preside over the change of command ceremony for Multi-National Force - Iraq. DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Samuel Morse, U.S. Air Force. (Released)From Westhawk:
The issue of arming and supporting Afghan tribes to fight the Taliban, instead of relying only on regularly constituted and trained Afghan army and police forces, is once again an issue of discussion among NATO defense ministers. U.S. Defense Secretary Gates gently pushed the militia idea at a recent NATO conference, only to meet resistance from some of his colleagues, including the Canadian government:
The [tribal militia] proposal, which the U.S. military will experiment with as up to 30,000 additional American troops surge into the country next year, has been routinely discussed by NATO defence ministers, most recently at a meeting in Cornwallis, N.S.
"The tribal militia idea that has been around for some time now is controversial; we are not on board with that," MacKay said in a recent year-end interview with The Canadian Press.
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My Comment: An excellent analysis and commentary by Westhawk. I am in complete agreement with his remarks.
Just one point .... I met Defense Minister Mackay a few times when he was running for the leadership of the Conservative party (this is a few years ago). I was not impressed then .... and I doubt that much has changed since then. His falling out with his girl friend Belinda Stronach .... who was rumored to have a relationship with former President Bill Clinton .... only added more doubts on his leadership abilities and who are his confidants. In short .... I would be skeptical on everything that Defense Minister Mackay would say.
OK .... I did not vote for him. What more can I say.
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