With the Left in France already planning a March for Fiscal Revolution on December 1st in Paris, unconfirmed news is beginning to filter out about the possibility of French forces joining a post-2014 NATO mission in
Afghanistan?
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the leftist Parti de Gauche, was organizing the march to protest the European Commission's insistence on neo-liberal fiscal austerity measures that were soundly rejected by voters in the 2012 election. Mélenchon has been harshly critical of François Hollande's Socialist government because of the austerity measures and a failure to live up to campaign promises.
Some promises were kept. France did complete the withdrawal of most of its troops from
Afghanistan a year ago. If it turns out that French troops are going back to Afghanistan after 2014, the Socialists can expect some real heat from the Left.
Mélenchon, who holds a seat in the European Parliament, is calling for France's withdrawal from the EU and a renewed rejection of its economic program. He also opposes the increasing militarization of the EU and criticized France's participation in military exercises that were being conducted with no explained purpose.
Now it looks like Mélenchon may have been right to have worries and suspicions. Today, the US Department of Defense published an interview with Army Col. John Norris, Commander of the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, in Hohenfels, Germany.
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2013 – A training rotation underway at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, offers a glimpse at the direction NATO training is expected to take as the alliance concludes its mission in Afghanistan next year and implements a new strategy focused on the future. This is a paradigm shift,” Norris said. “This is now introducing our multinational partners to the post-ISAF, post-2014 environment and what is next.
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Combined Resolve integrates armored vehicle, artillery and aviation maneuvers and other high-end operations into training that includes more than 2,200 U.S., Czech, Slovenian, Norwegian and French forces.
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In addition, U.S. Navy SEALS and a French special operations team are supporting the rotation. When Combined Resolve wraps up Nov. 24, Norris said, he’s confident the participants will take home valuable lessons and insights into what’s ahead for military training.
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“This represents the future of warfare and how we will fight our nation’s wars,” he said. “We will always fight in a multinational environment. That’s why this training mission, Combined Resolve, focuses on sustaining the partnerships and the interoperability we have achieved during the last 12 years of war.”
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The goal, Norris said, is to ensure NATO forces are prepared for the challenges they will face together post-2014."
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