How did we go from taking U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and “ending the war,” to possibly sending them into another one?
In an address to the European nations known as the Bucharest Nine (B9) on Wednesday, President Biden emphasized the United States’ commitment to its NATO allies. This commitment comes a few days shy of the one-year anniversary of Russia initiating a war and invading Ukraine.
As part of a European tour, Biden visited Warsaw after stopping to meet with President Zelensky in Ukraine.
“As NATO’s eastern flank, you’re our front lines of our collective defense, and you know better than anyone what’s at stake in this conflict,” Biden said to officials from the B9 countries of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
“The commitment of the United States to NATO – I’ve said it to you many times, and I’ll say it again, – is absolutely clear. Article 5 is a sacred commitment the United States has made,” Biden said. “We will defend literally every inch of NATO. Every inch of NATO.”
Article 5 is a crucial provision of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which serves as the foundation of the alliance’s collective defense principle.
It states that “an armed attack against one or more of the NATO members in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all,” and requires each member state to take necessary measures to assist the attacked ally.
Following Biden’s lead, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claimed that Russian President Putin is showing no signs of slowing down or seeking peace but is instead, “preparing for world war.”
“We must sustain and step up our support for Ukraine,” Stoltenberg continued.” We must give Ukraine what they need to prevail. We don’t know when the war will end but when it does, we need to ensure that history does not repeat itself.”
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