Prof. Mendes Appears on CTV News to Discuss NATO Troop Surge
Professor Errol Mendes appeared on CTV News on December 4, 2009 to discuss NATO’s pledge to send 7,000 additional troops into Afghanistan in 2010.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced last week that at least 25 countries would contribute to the troop surge in an effort support the 30,000 new U.S. troops set to enter Afghanistan next year. The Secretary General said he foresees a renewed momentum for the mission in the coming year, and reaffirmed NATO’s commitment to achieving a successful outcome in Afghanistan.
“The Americans want the Afghans to realize that this is not an American occupation,” said Prof. Mendes. “This is, in effect, an attempt by 45 nations to counter the insurgency.” Regarding the prospect of achieving a successful outcome within the next two years, he added, “stabilizing Afghanistan is a generational project of 10 to 20 years. The desperate hope on the part of Obama and the Americans, and now NATO, is to create the impetus in local communities to say ‘we’ve had enough of these decades of warfare; we want to protect our own communities.’”
Click here to view the entire interview.