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Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates vocalized his ongoing concern about Europe’s lacking contributions to NATO, and said that European public and political opposition to the military was directly affecting operations in Afghanistan. Here’s what he said on Tuesday at the National Defense University: “The demilitarization of Europe — where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it — has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st.” Mr. Gates’s comments came just after the dispute over keeping Dutch troops in Afghanistan. Allied support has never been more critical in helping our effort in Afghanistan, and hopefully his blunt comments will have a positive impact – unlike the “Old Europe” comment from his predecessor. What do you all think?

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As the military rushes to place more spy drones over Afghanistan, the remote-controlled planes are producing so much video intelligence that analysts are finding it more and more difficult to keep up. Air Force drones collected nearly three times as much video over Afghanistan and Iraq last year as in 2007 — about 24 years’ worth if watched continuously. That volume is expected to multiply in the coming years as drones are added to the fleet and as some start using multiple cameras to shoot in many directions. A group of young analysts already watches every second of the footage live as it is streamed to Langley Air Force Base here and to other intelligence centers, and they quickly pass warnings about insurgents and roadside bombs to troops in the field. Read the full NY Times article here.

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In an effort to reverse Taliban gains over the past six months, President Obama has decided to expedite the deployment of 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan. The effort also aims to spur the Afghanistan government in Kabul to match the effort. By the end of May 2010, the plan is to have a total of 100,000 American troops on the ground, and the administration is moving faster than expected when it comes to this enhanced deployment. Mr. Obama concluded — at the end of a nearly three-month review of American war strategy — that the situation required “more, sooner.”

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