I remember, when I was in Afghanistan, hearing a report that coalition soldiers on a dismounted patrol in a neighboring province had been killed in action by a suicide bomber. I anxiously awaited word of which American unit they were from (I had friends in the area).
And then the update came: The casualties weren’t Americans; they were Czech. I wondered at the time (and still do) how officers and chaplains from small countries in Eastern Europe or the Balkans try to explain to mothers or spouses of fallen soldiers that their sacrifice was necessary. The only conceivable justification for those soldiers’ presence in a wasteland thousands of miles away — while Russia, their greatest threat, looms next-door — is that they were securing America’s loyalty and protection for their nation in the future by fighting and dying alongside American troops now.
It is a commitment the United States should neither overlook nor forget.
In an interview after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump publicly questioned the wisdom of upholding our NATO Article V commitment to defend small Eastern European and Balkan nations such as Montenegro. The president’s skepticism is neither a recent development nor a novel opinion. The question — often raised by nationalists on the Right — is, “why should we send Americans to die for tiny countries that do nothing for us?” There are plenty of substantive reasons to publicly back Article V, but any discussion has to begin with acknowledging the sacrifices these countries have made.
The gross number of soldiers they send may be low, but they are not insignificant in light of the sizes of their respective populations — some of these allies (Montenegro included) send a greater number of troops per capita to Afghanistan than the U.S. And the sacrifices of their men and women who have given everything should be remembered and not taken lightly:
Poland (44 KIA, 231 WIA), Georgia (32 KIA, 435 WIA), Romania (23 KIA, 131 WIA), Czech Republic (10 KIA, 26 WIA), Estonia (8 KIA, 92 WIA), Hungary (4 KIA, 14 WIA), Latvia (4 KIA, 11 WIA), Slovakia (3 KIA, 8 WIA), Lithuania (1 KIA, 13 WIA). Of this list, only Georgia is not a member of NATO.
These tiny members of NATO have accounted for 107 of the coalition fatalities in the war. Many sent troops to Iraq, as well. Most of them spend a greater percentage of their GDP on defense than many Western European nations like Germany, Italy, Canada, Spain, and Belgium.
None of this is to say that the Eastern European and Balkan troops (even as an aggregate) come close to contributing more to NATO than their larger Western neighbors in gross terms, but they have been loyal partners for the last decade and a half. As Russia continues its belligerence and moves into every gap our foreign policy missteps provide, it is more crucial than ever to remain vocally committed to Article V, no matter which countries are implicated. And leadership on this issue must begin at the very top.
James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. He’s also a former Army captain and Afghanistan veteran.
