Nato’s role under the microscope

– US President Donald Trump will press his Nato allies tomorrow to increase defence spending and take a more active role in the fight against Islamist terror.

Here are the expected main talking points during the summit at Nato’s new, futuristic headquarters on the outskirts of Brussels:

Washington and top US political figures have been demanding that the allies share more of the defence burden since Nato was set up in 1949 to hold back the Soviet Union.

Trump however has been unu- sually blunt, warning on the campaign trail he might first check whether an ally is up to date with its contributions before deciding to come to its aid.

That apparently less than full commitment to Nato’s core Article 5 “all for one, one for all” collective defence commitment caused consternation in Europe.

Dubbing Nato “obsolete” only added to dismay among allies who, marshalled by Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, had committed to the biggest defence build-up since the end of the Cold War to counter a more aggressive Russia.

At their 2014 summit, Nato leaders agreed to allocate 2% of economic output to defence annually within a decade. So far, only the US, Britain, Greece, Poland and Estonia have met the target.

Nato currently provides Awacs surveillance planes to help anti-Islamic State operations and trains officers in Iraq.

Diplomatic sources say some of the allies, including France and Germany, are reluctant to go further for fear of getting dragged into a fully-fledged ground war. – AFP