Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

time or offensive missions. A top French military chief
once called caveats a “poison for multinational operations,”
<strong>and</strong> his British counterpart at the time insisted
publicly that other Allies take a larger role in combat. 5
The prevalence <strong>and</strong> impact of caveats reportedly
have diminished in recent years, but they have not
disappeared altogether. Moreover, as ISAF gradually
passes the lead for security operations in selected
provinces <strong>and</strong> districts to Afghan forces, pressure will
build within several troop-contributor nations now
deployed in those areas (mostly in the north <strong>and</strong> west)
to withdraw their forces entirely rather than allow
their shift to training <strong>and</strong> mentoring functions, which
are not risk-free tasks. The danger is that during the
planned transition to an Afghan lead in 2014, the combat
burdens <strong>and</strong> risks might fall even more disproportionately
on those U.S. <strong>and</strong> other Allied forces now
deployed in the more volatile southern <strong>and</strong> eastern
regions.
<strong>NATO</strong>’s experience in Libya confirmed that burden-sharing
remains an issue in more limited operations,
as well. While most Allies contributed militarily
in some fashion, only eight (including the United
States) participated in air strikes. On the positive side,
the distribution of strike sorties among these countries
was undoubtedly an improvement over the Kosovo
air campaign. As Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta
noted in October 2011:
After the United States employed its unique assets
in the first week of the conflict to destroy key regime
military targets <strong>and</strong> air defense capabilities, Europeans
took over the brunt of operations. France <strong>and</strong> the
United Kingdom engaged on a large scale, flying one
third of the overall sorties <strong>and</strong> attacking 40 percent of
the targets. Their deployment of helicopters was criti-
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