NATO's military chief said Wednesday he would like to explore the possibility of expanding the alliance's military cooperation with Russia, especially regarding the war in Afghanistan.
Adm. James Stavridis said this could include Russian help in maintaining the large fleet of Soviet-built helicopters being used by the alliance and Afghan security forces, and other logistical assistance.
Russia has no forces in Afghanistan, but it has kept open a land and air route through its territory and through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - an alternate to NATO's principal supply route through Pakistan, which often has been attacked.
Russia also has trained hundreds of Afghan government anti-narcotics officers.
"There are many zones of cooperation that we can explore," Stavridis said during an interview in Kabul at the conclusion of his three-day visit to NATO troops in Afghanistan
It'll be interesting how this gets spun. Here's what I think will happen.
The Russian narrative will be that NATO screwed this up so much that the Russians had to come in with their invaluable Afghan experience and bail out ISAF.
The US narrative will be that we gave the Russians a shot at redemption for their previous screw-ups in Afghanistan.
The European narrative will be that the US has so thoroughly marginalized their other alliance partners that we had to turn to the Russians just to staff the mission.
The Taliban narrative will be "See? They're all the same!"
The Afghan narrative? Who knows...
By: Brant
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