.Denmark Rallies Public Behind Afghan War
Among allied forces fighting in Afghanistan, few countries have deployed a bigger share of their armed forces than Denmark, and fewer still have taken higher levels of casualties. But the small Scandinavian country is emerging as an unlikely example of how to maintain public support for the war.
The popularity of the international campaign in Afghanistan has fallen across Europe and in the U.S. On Tuesday, the Dutch government set a June 9 date for general elections, nearly one year ahead of schedule. The move followed the unraveling of Netherlands' coalition government last weekend after it failed win support to extend the mandate of the nation's 1,600 troops in Afghanistan, presaging a likely withdrawal this year.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Tuesday that the NATO military alliance is facing "very serious, long-term, systemic problems" sparked by European nations' unwillingness to adequately fund their militaries.
"I believe we have reached an inflection point, where much of the continent has gone too far in the other direction," Mr. Gates told an audience at Washington's National Defense University.
Amid this shift, the Danes have largely maintained public support for the effort, selling the mission as a humanitarian effort rather than simply protection against a terrorist threat, and building consensus among political parties. They have reaped the benefits of a largely supportive media and the country has, to some degree, rediscovered its pride in an active military.
"The key to sustaining public support is an elite consensus that includes politicians in government and opposition as well as key opinion leaders: influential intellectuals, academics and columnists," says Dr. Peter Viggo Jakobsen, a security expert at the University of Copenhagen.
Denmark has paid a high price in Afghanistan. Its 750 troops represent almost 5% of its entire military, including reserves—among the highest in Afghanistan. Of the total, 31 Danish troops have died there, an allied casualty rate behind only Canada and Estonia, which has just 150 soldiers fighting.
Yet throughout a difficult 2009, polls consistently showed around a half of Danes surveyed by TNS Gallup believed Danish troops should be in Afghanistan; only one-third said they didn't. In NATO nations such as the U.K., Germany and Netherlands, meanwhile, polls reveal over half wanting troops back home.
"If you can't win the public opinion, you have lost the war," Danish Defense Minister Søren Gade said in a recent interview.
Mr. Gade, who has led Danish efforts to maintain public support, announced Monday he is stepping down. Mr. Gade's ministry has been accused of leaking news of the deployment of Danish special forces to Iraq and he said this was attracting attention away from Afghanistan.
Denmark's forces in Afghanistan—along with Britain, the Netherlands, Estonia and Canada—have formed a rump of non-U.S. allies essential to the U.S.-led war effort that do battle in Helmand province and other Afghanistan hot spots, contributing to high casualty rates for these countries' contingents.
Now some of those nations are growing weary of the effort. The Netherlands and Canada have set pull-out dates, and some foreign armies remain reluctant to fight in restive regions like Helmand. British politicians face a hostile media that chronicles the return of every dead soldier's coffin.
It's a different story in Denmark. "On editorial pages, there has been a total agreement that it is a necessary war," says Kristian Mouritzen, the foreign editor of Berlingske Tidende, one of Denmark's big three dailies.Mr. Gade, a former Danish army officer, said a key to winning the public was giving reporters deep access to soldiers, who were allowed to talk.
When troops say, " 'We did a job and we did it good, and it is worth doing,' then it is very hard indeed for a lot of people to oppose, because those are the men and women who risk their lives," he said.
That doesn't mean the public doesn't struggle with the country's involvement. Frank Erik Carlsen says that on "down days," he questions why Denmark is in Afghanistan, where his brother Henrik lost his life to a roadside bomb last August. Doubts pass, he says, when he thinks of the terrorist threat from Afghanistan and of Denmark's efforts to build wells and schools there.
"It is too easy to stay at home, and Denmark is doing its part," he said. Next month, Mr. Carlsen begins training for his own deployment to Afghanistan.
Denmark only recently returned to military action following a long stretch of neutrality that followed its 1864 defeat to Prussia, in modern day Germany. With the end of the Cold War, Danish forces, long tasked with home defense, had little to do.
A stint in NATO's military intervention in Kosovo saw a Danish tank force rout a Serbian attack in 1994. Suddenly Danish politicians found it advantageous for the military to punch above its weight internationally and become a point of national pride, Dr. Jakobsen says.
Denmark's participation in Iraq was less popular. But Danish politicians learned lessons they believe the U.S. and U.K. took too long to heed—emphasizing reconstructive work as much as the military conflict, and recognizing the broad-based effort of a U.N. mission with 44 contributors.
"When I read a U.K. paper its just like, the U.K. and nobody else" fighting, Mr. Gade said.
But while the Danes have said their forces remain committed to Afghanistan, that support can't be taken for granted. Recently there have been cracks in the coalition and a fall in opinion polls, with, for instance, a major newspaper withdrawing its support. Also, Mr. Gade's departure is seen as bad news, given the former advertising executive is seen as the government's most persuasive campaigner.
And not everybody supports the war. Liv Storrud, a pacifist with a dove tattooed on her arm, lost her son, Major Anders Storrud, who became Denmark's highest-ranked casualty when he died of his wounds in October last year.
"We supported Anders because he wanted to do it," she said. "But we didn't support the cause."
Ms. Storrud says the government's argument on bringing greater equalities to Afghanistan, such as women's rights, is persuasive. But she adds: "Why Denmark? Why Anders? Why do we put so much on the line?"
WSJ
The popularity of the international campaign in Afghanistan has fallen across Europe and in the U.S. On Tuesday, the Dutch government set a June 9 date for general elections, nearly one year ahead of schedule. The move followed the unraveling of Netherlands' coalition government last weekend after it failed win support to extend the mandate of the nation's 1,600 troops in Afghanistan, presaging a likely withdrawal this year.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Tuesday that the NATO military alliance is facing "very serious, long-term, systemic problems" sparked by European nations' unwillingness to adequately fund their militaries.
"I believe we have reached an inflection point, where much of the continent has gone too far in the other direction," Mr. Gates told an audience at Washington's National Defense University.
Amid this shift, the Danes have largely maintained public support for the effort, selling the mission as a humanitarian effort rather than simply protection against a terrorist threat, and building consensus among political parties. They have reaped the benefits of a largely supportive media and the country has, to some degree, rediscovered its pride in an active military.
"The key to sustaining public support is an elite consensus that includes politicians in government and opposition as well as key opinion leaders: influential intellectuals, academics and columnists," says Dr. Peter Viggo Jakobsen, a security expert at the University of Copenhagen.
Denmark has paid a high price in Afghanistan. Its 750 troops represent almost 5% of its entire military, including reserves—among the highest in Afghanistan. Of the total, 31 Danish troops have died there, an allied casualty rate behind only Canada and Estonia, which has just 150 soldiers fighting.
Yet throughout a difficult 2009, polls consistently showed around a half of Danes surveyed by TNS Gallup believed Danish troops should be in Afghanistan; only one-third said they didn't. In NATO nations such as the U.K., Germany and Netherlands, meanwhile, polls reveal over half wanting troops back home.
"If you can't win the public opinion, you have lost the war," Danish Defense Minister Søren Gade said in a recent interview.
Mr. Gade, who has led Danish efforts to maintain public support, announced Monday he is stepping down. Mr. Gade's ministry has been accused of leaking news of the deployment of Danish special forces to Iraq and he said this was attracting attention away from Afghanistan.
Denmark's forces in Afghanistan—along with Britain, the Netherlands, Estonia and Canada—have formed a rump of non-U.S. allies essential to the U.S.-led war effort that do battle in Helmand province and other Afghanistan hot spots, contributing to high casualty rates for these countries' contingents.
Now some of those nations are growing weary of the effort. The Netherlands and Canada have set pull-out dates, and some foreign armies remain reluctant to fight in restive regions like Helmand. British politicians face a hostile media that chronicles the return of every dead soldier's coffin.
It's a different story in Denmark. "On editorial pages, there has been a total agreement that it is a necessary war," says Kristian Mouritzen, the foreign editor of Berlingske Tidende, one of Denmark's big three dailies.Mr. Gade, a former Danish army officer, said a key to winning the public was giving reporters deep access to soldiers, who were allowed to talk.
When troops say, " 'We did a job and we did it good, and it is worth doing,' then it is very hard indeed for a lot of people to oppose, because those are the men and women who risk their lives," he said.
That doesn't mean the public doesn't struggle with the country's involvement. Frank Erik Carlsen says that on "down days," he questions why Denmark is in Afghanistan, where his brother Henrik lost his life to a roadside bomb last August. Doubts pass, he says, when he thinks of the terrorist threat from Afghanistan and of Denmark's efforts to build wells and schools there.
"It is too easy to stay at home, and Denmark is doing its part," he said. Next month, Mr. Carlsen begins training for his own deployment to Afghanistan.
Denmark only recently returned to military action following a long stretch of neutrality that followed its 1864 defeat to Prussia, in modern day Germany. With the end of the Cold War, Danish forces, long tasked with home defense, had little to do.
A stint in NATO's military intervention in Kosovo saw a Danish tank force rout a Serbian attack in 1994. Suddenly Danish politicians found it advantageous for the military to punch above its weight internationally and become a point of national pride, Dr. Jakobsen says.
Denmark's participation in Iraq was less popular. But Danish politicians learned lessons they believe the U.S. and U.K. took too long to heed—emphasizing reconstructive work as much as the military conflict, and recognizing the broad-based effort of a U.N. mission with 44 contributors.
"When I read a U.K. paper its just like, the U.K. and nobody else" fighting, Mr. Gade said.
But while the Danes have said their forces remain committed to Afghanistan, that support can't be taken for granted. Recently there have been cracks in the coalition and a fall in opinion polls, with, for instance, a major newspaper withdrawing its support. Also, Mr. Gade's departure is seen as bad news, given the former advertising executive is seen as the government's most persuasive campaigner.
And not everybody supports the war. Liv Storrud, a pacifist with a dove tattooed on her arm, lost her son, Major Anders Storrud, who became Denmark's highest-ranked casualty when he died of his wounds in October last year.
"We supported Anders because he wanted to do it," she said. "But we didn't support the cause."
Ms. Storrud says the government's argument on bringing greater equalities to Afghanistan, such as women's rights, is persuasive. But she adds: "Why Denmark? Why Anders? Why do we put so much on the line?"
WSJ
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