Europeans support SECDEF Gates

Well, at least the clear eyed, serious ones do.

Support for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' criticism of other NATO members' performance in Afghanistan appeared from an unexpected source yesterday — a European defense specialist who is closely linked to senior NATO officials.

"Mr. Gates is absolutely right," said Giles Merritt, director of the Security and Defense Agenda, an influential military think tank in Brussels which counts NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer among its patrons.

"It's quite clear that the Europeans as a whole have not lived up to their commitments [in Afghanistan]," Mr. Merritt said in an interview.