After delivering the NATO narrative at the conclusion of the IISS Prague Defense Summit on Nov. 10, NATO Military Committee Chairman Admiral Rob Bauer was hit with a barrage of questions, including: how NATO can avoid a repeat of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, can NATO help Ukraine more than it has up until now, and even whether or not NATO should send troops to “defend” Ukraine. His answers all came down to this: “Everything is possible. But if you fight in Afghanistan, that is not the same as fighting the Russians in Ukraine. The Taliban did not have nuclear weapons, and the Russians do.”
“I am absolutely sure if the Russians did not have nuclear weapons, we would have been in Ukraine kicking them out,” he said specifically on the matter of NATO troops in Ukraine. “We would have. But they have nuclear weapons, so it is not the same as in Afghanistan.”
“Actually, Afghanistan was never of strategic importance,” Bauer continued. “If we are really honest, Afghanistan was not of strategic importance. We spent 20 years there, we did a lot of things and people lost their lives. But if you ask the question, was it of strategic importance, Afghanistan? The answer is no. Is Ukraine of strategic importance? Yes. Because it is connected to the rules-based international order discussion. It is connected to being in the heart of Europe. It is connected to the ambitions of Russia and indirectly the ambitions of China.”
