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US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
Photo: Mark Makela / AFP
It should be a special appearance when the American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken for the first time exchanges more detailed information with the allies from NATO and the EU this Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels.
After years of dispute and distrust between Donald Trump's administration and the Europeans, the aim is to revive the transatlantic relationship.
A keynote speech is planned in which Blinken wants to underline the importance of NATO for the USA.
At the same time, the allies are to be brought on a common line in the struggle with the great rivals Russia and China.
Above all, however, Joe Biden's Foreign Minister is concerned with spreading a good mood and forgoing lectures.
The trip to Brussels is an opportunity to highlight the partnership and close ties with European friends, according to the US State Department in Washington.
Is everything going to be okay now?
It is not that easy
No less anointing tones come from NATO headquarters in Brussels.
In a joint declaration - the first foreign minister since November 2019 - diplomats say that they will commit to transatlantic unity, a shared democratic set of values and a duty to provide assistance in the event of an attack.
The fact that such a matter of course has to be explained again speaks volumes about what four years Donald Trump have done in NATO.
Is everything going to be okay now?
It is not that easy.
The first euphoria about the change of power in the USA has already evaporated in NATO and the EU.
It is true that the transatlantic honeymoon with the new US administration has so far gone as the Europeans had dreamed of.
Above all, the election campaign promise to get involved again in multilateral institutions was redeemed by the Democrats at record speed: under Biden, the USA returned to the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council.
The US president reversed his exit from the Paris climate protection agreement and initially pacified trade relations with the EU by suspending punitive tariffs.
In the meantime, however, many allies in NATO are under the impression that Biden is actually continuing Donald Trump's policy of going it alone.
The unsettled action in Afghanistan is causing trouble among the European allies.
It began with Blinken sending a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, with which the US government distanced itself from the previous peace process with the Taliban.
In it, Blinken called on the Afghan President's "urgent leadership" and asked them to "understand the urgency of my tone."
The letter was perceived not only as a threat and dictation by the government in Kabul, but also by the countries that have been trying for months to negotiate an intra-Afghan peace settlement under the pressure of Trump's threats to withdraw, including Germany and the emirate of Qatar, which have so far held the peace talks housed in the capital Doha.
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Bundeswehr soldiers guard a convoy in Mazar-I-Sharif
Photo: Michael Kappeler / DPA
In the letter, Blinken expressed his dissatisfaction with the Doha process and announced a peace conference in Turkey.
While the US government diplomatically upgraded Turkey and also invited Russia to the format, allies such as Italians and Germans found out about it from the newspaper.
People in Berlin are annoyed, after all, Germany has the second largest contingent of troops.
The federal government had only just decided to extend the Bundeswehr mandate by ten months.
Should the Istanbul Peace Conference fail and the US military hastily withdraw, the Bundeswehr would face major problems.
In the letter to Ghani, Blinken threatened to withdraw from May 1st - the original Trump deadline.
Other Europeans are also angry. Nobody spends more money on building civil society in Afghanistan than the EU partners.
"The latest US announcements for Afghanistan are annoying and thwart the previous peace talks," criticized Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesman for the SPD in the Bundestag.
"This is a relapse into classic power politics."
SPD external expert Nils Schmid
The previous Doha process places great value on the participation of Afghan civil society, said Schmid.
In contrast, the conference proposed by the Americans in Turkey relies unilaterally on the great powers.
"This is a relapse into classic power politics," says Schmid.
"I hope that the US Secretary of State in Brussels will be open to the Europeans' arguments."
Douglas Jones, currently chargé d'affaires of the US embassy to the EU, did not want to know anything about the discontent among the Allies.
The consultations with the allies are "an important and decisive part" in the decision on a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, said Jones on Monday in an online press conference.
“We went in together.
We will adjust the stake together.
And when the time comes, we'll leave the country together. ”That's why, according to Jones, we will talk to each other and make decisions together.
"In together, out together" - the Democrats made this promise during the election campaign.
The next few weeks will have to show what it's worth.
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