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EU no longer believes in Afghanistan: US cable

06 December 2010, 11:18 CET
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(BRUSSELS) - European Union President Herman Van Rompuy told a US ambassador that Europe no longer believed in Afghanistan and that 2010 may be the last chance for success, according to a US diplomatic cable.

Van Rompuy told ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman over coffee on December 23, 2009, that Europeans were only staying in Afghanistan out of "deference" to the United States, according to the confidential memo released by WikiLeaks.

"Europe is doing it and will go along out of deference to the United States but not out of deference to Afghanistan," Van Rompuy was quoted as saying in the cable.

"No one believes in Afghanistan any more," he said in a meeting that took place three weeks after he took office as the head of the 27-nation European Council.

"But we will give it 2010 to see results. If it doesn't work, that will be it because it is the last chance," he said.

Underscoring Europe's waning appetite for combat, the former Belgian prime minister warned: "If a Belgian gets killed, it would be over for Belgium right then."

European countries account for around 30,000 of some 150,000 NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, while the United States makes up the bulk of the force.

NATO leaders agreed at a November 20 summit to start handing security responsibility to Afghan security forces next year with the aim of withdrawing from the battlefield by 2014.


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