Center for Strategic Communication

In an oped for the European online publication E!Sharp, Matthew Wallin analyzes whether President Obama’s efforts to improve relations with Europe have helped to achieve his security goals for Afghanistan:

Are President Obama’s efforts to repair US-European relations directly attributable to this willingness to augment forces? This is unclear, especially when viewed against the increases of 2007-2008. Interestingly, when viewed as a percentage of total ISAF composition, the overall trend from 2008-2011 indicates that France’s contribution has remained roughly the same, Germany’s has decreased, and the UK’s has decreased significantly.

Read the full oped here.