Text fwd: Afghan War To Dominate US-South-Korean Summit

* Text fwd by Rick Rozoff on May 20, 2009*

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/05/19/2009051900900.html
Afghan War To Dominate US-South-Korean Summit
Chosun Ilbo May 19, 2009 By Ha Young-sun

[Edited]

-The U.S. has appropriated $130 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan next year. On top of the worst economic crisis in 80 years, America will spend over $10 billion for the wars per month....NATO, born 60 years ago with the former Soviet Union as the hypothetical enemy, has steadily reinforced itself even after the 1991 dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. NATO now commands the 56,000-strong International Security Assistance Force, comprised of 41 countries including the U.S., Britain, Germany and Canada....Obama will pay tribute to South Korea, which has grown into a global country in a short period of time, and then he will naturally expect it to make a due contribution to U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. On the threshold of becoming the 15th most successful country in the world, Korea must play a global and regional role compatible with its national strength.

The South Korea-U.S. summit is a month away. The two heads of state are already acquainted with each other, and the meeting will be important in terms of the basic direction for relations in the 2010s. High on the agenda will be support for the U.S. war in Afghanistan, North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles, the economic crisis and the bilateral free trade agreement. Of these, the most important point for the U.S. and the most sensitive for Korea is Afghanistan.

The White House last Wednesday was so busy as to recall the heady days of the Cold War. In the morning, President Barack Obama met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari separately, and in the afternoon there was a meeting between all three. On a list of failed states published annually by the American journal Foreign Affairs, Afghanistan ranks seventh and Pakistan ninth, and per capita GNP is US$400 and $1,000 respectively.

The U.S. has appropriated $130 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan next year. On top of the worst economic crisis in 80 years, America will spend over $10 billion for the wars per month....

Tasked with resolving the second phase of the "war on terror" and the economic crisis simultaneously, the Obama administration is concentrating its efforts on a more inclusive solution after the military-only option has failed. That will take an economic direction. Immediately after attending the G20 conference aimed at resolving the global economic crisis, Obama took part in NATO summit.

NATO, born 60 years ago with the former Soviet Union as the hypothetical enemy, has steadily reinforced itself even after the 1991 dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. NATO now commands the 56,000-strong International Security Assistance Force, comprised of 41 countries including the U.S., Britain, Germany and Canada....

[Obama] wants support for the war from East Asia as well. Hence Washington will naturally focus the upcoming summit on the issue. Obama will pay tribute to South Korea, which has grown into a global country in a short period of time, and then he will naturally expect it to make a due contribution to U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. On the threshold of becoming the 15th most successful country in the world, Korea must play a global and regional role compatible with its national strength.

But Seoul must be aware that the U.S. and NATO countries are adjusting their new roles in the structurally changing world order. Korea, too, should review its global role realistically. We have to take into account inter-Korean relations and the tender roots of democracy in the South.
....
The government has recently decided to expand support in Afghanistan from $30 million to $74.1 million until 2011 and to bolster the scale of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. Given that the eventual resolution of the Afghanistan problem depends on the success or failure of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, Korea should try to make a contribution in that area in close cooperation with the U.S. if sending troops is realistically impossible.

By Ha Young-sun, a professor of international politics at Seoul National University
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Stop NATO