Are they actually dropping bombs in Afghanistan or just patrolling uncontested airspace? If it’s the latter, that is pretty useless — we could hire some crop duster pilots with pistols to do the same thing. We aren’t exactly being challenged by anyone in the air over there.

As for French commitments elsewhere, I think that is sort of irrelevant. The fact is, if the French WANTED they have the resources to make more than a token effort towards the fight in Afghanistan. But we all know that the French are a bunch of world-appeasing pacifists for the most part, and they don’t have the social or political will to get involved in “someone elses business” (even though it’s everyone’s business).

I will say that the French are flying CAPs with two squadrons of Mirage 2000s over Afghanistan out of the Uzbekistan air base.

I think too, that the French have millions of Muslims living in their country, and they also have to be careful about the appearance that they are bombing Muslims.

France has 61 million people. The US has 305 million. They do indeed also have troop responsibilities all over Africa, in Indonesia, and Malaysia. So, that commitment is a failry large commitment for them.

Thanks for the discussion nonetheless

Daniel
Civiliammilitaryintelligencegroup.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/world/europe/07iht-germany.4.16757509.html

“German soldiers, like troops from many other countries serving in Afghanistan, are limited by restrictions over where they can be sent and in what level of combat they can be involved.

Such caveats have created resentment from Britain, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States whose troops bear the brunt of the fighting in the south because they have had few restrictions placed on their movements or activities by their respective legislatures.

The German troops, based mainly in the northern province of Kunduz, which has been comparatively quiet, recently took over command of the quick-reaction force that is supposed to provide military support in cases of emergency.”

Saudi Arabia is a tricky alliance. They have to be very careful about balancing their alliance with the United States and not stepping on too many toes in the Arab world. It’s not as cut and dry for them as it is for the United States.

As for our allies putting in an equal effort relative to their size and stake, I couldn’t disagree more. The Europeans have far more at stake than the U.S. as militant Islam is rapidly expanding throughout their cities. Perhaps that is why they are careful about the amount of effort they put into Afghanistan — as usual, their best line of defense is appeasement. France has just over 3k troops in Afghanistan, that is less than 1% of their man power — and it’s not like they have huge military commitments elsewhere. The French and Germans both have the ability to contribute MUCH more to the fight, but their socialist governments and populations simply do not have the stomach for any kind of conflict, no matter how justified it is. No doubt the aid that our allies have given us thus far has been extremely valuable, but with a couple exceptions most of it has been nothing more than a token effort.

civilianmilitaryintelligencegroup.com

I don’t agree at all. The effort our allies are putting into ISAF are commensurate with their size and defense budgets and stake in the fight. Don’t forget, the Europeans have had a lot more terrorism on their soil than we have and they are essential in the fight to keep fanatic groups off balance.

France is fighting shoulder to shoulder with us in Afhganistan. They are working with us in the Balkans and in Africa against pirates. France is a US ally. We train with them in joint exercises and even share data with them during missions. If you want to be mad at a country, or an ally, try Saudi Arabia. We have literally bled to protect them. When they needed a new combat fighter did they buy F-15Es?

No they bought 72 Typhoons.

Finally, the incentive to sell advanced avionics and otherwise vectoring or weapons systems is that there is a robust market for it; also we are not the only ones who can develop high technology. If we don’t sell our radars, someone else will sell them.