Biden is attending his first NATO meeting as president, aiming to build bridges after Trump berated allies as 'deadbeats' and belittled the alliance.
As U.S. forces pull out from Afghanistan, the Taliban is in the ascendant — and threatening to retake the city that was its former spiritual capital.
During the Obama administration, NATO members agreed to raise domestic defense spending to 2% of their national budgets by 2024. Trump demanded it happen more quickly, and some countries have complied; others, including Germany, continue to lag, arguing that they should receive dispensation because much of their spending goes to the resettlement of refugees created by armed conflicts.
Democratic freedoms and rule of law, enshrined in the NATO charter, “are being upheld unequally across the alliance,” Rachel Ellehuus, a Europe and Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a panel discussion ahead of Biden’s trip. “NATO speaking out powerfully about the common purpose and common strength of democracies is an important part of a collective effort to be able to meet the China challenge over the decades ahead,” Sullivan said.
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