President Obama’s response to military requests for reinforcements in Afghanistan will be critical to the outcome of the campaign, but it probably won’t change many minds in Europe: Most of our “allies” aren’t going to send more troops, or unleash more of them to fight, regardless of what America does.

Unfortunately, the risk is all on the downside: if we send more troops, European leaders will hope we succeed but that’s about it. If we don’t send more troops, the likely result is faster European withdrawals. From Reuters:

If Obama refuses a call by General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, for more troops to avoid failure in the eight-year Western effort, persuading Europeans to do more will be extremely difficult.
“If he doesn’t send more forces, it is very unlikely that the Europeans will. In fact, it makes it more likely that some European forces will be withdrawn,” said Tomas Valasek of the Centre for European Reform think tank.
Opinion polls in many European countries, including Britain, France and Germany, show clear majorities in favour of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.