Afghanistan: Surprise! Yes they can, "they" in this case being the Europeans...or some of them...

From our far-flung network of correspondents (OK, two websites) comes news that the French, the Germans and the Italians are all in for increased Afghanistan deployments, for varying terms and, in each case, to the tune of about 500 soldiers. (The Germans will probably come with the usual caveats, which substantially reduces but doesn’t eliminate their usefulness.) Other U.S. allies expect to get the tap on the shoulder soon, and there may indeed be further news out of a NATO ministerial in Krakow this week.