From our partners at Newshoggers.com
By Steve Hynd
Another coming departure from the Coalition of the Unwilling:
After his meeting with NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Wednesday evening, President Bronislaw Komorowski said Poland’s involvement in Afghanistan was taking away vital funds for defence modernisation.
"The costs of operations are so significant they are having an effect on the modernization of the armed forces," Komorowski said during his trip to Brussels, Wednesday.
Poland has 2,600 troops in Afghanistan, with 400 hundred in reserve, and President Komorowski said during his recent election campaign that finding a concrete withdrawal date was an urgent policy goal.
The Dutch have already gone, Canada is to follow, Spain and Australia are thinking about it. The U.S. has convinced the new set of poodles in London to stay until 2015 no matter what the vast majority of the British populace think but Cameron/Clegg will be hurt by it at the next election. In any case, NATO is in tatters now that the Dutch have proven that it's Charter is not a "stay the course" document.
Meanwhile, 2010 is already the most deadly year yet for US troops in Afghanistan, with four months of the year still to go.
As allies leave, US troops will have to take up the slack and more will be killed. Unless, of course, Obama takes the hint from his allies and over 60% of US voters and heads for the exit too.
America can't afford Afghanistan either, in these times of unemployment and economic depression. But the Pentagon has a $547 million PR budget.
“Don't Forget Poland!” W.
Who can afford it nowadays?