Blair's Pullout, Prodi's Fall Point to Bush Isolation (Ken Fireman)

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Britain's decision to withdraw some forces from Iraq even as President George W. Bush sends more American troops demonstrates a growing U.S. isolation from its allies that is affecting other priorities, including in Afghanistan and Iran.

By Ken Fireman

Feb. 22, 2007 -- (Bloomberg) -- Britain's decision to withdraw some forces from Iraq even as President George W. Bush sends more American troops demonstrates a growing U.S. isolation from its allies that is affecting other priorities, including in Afghanistan and Iran.

Europeans are resisting U.S. demands to play a greater military role against the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan in part because they see the U.S. as too preoccupied with Iraq to craft an effective strategy. The erosion of political support in Italy for the Afghanistan mission forced Prime Minister Romano Prodi to offer his resignation yesterday.

Iraq also has reduced Bush's leverage as he seeks international support for pressuring Iran to give up its nuclear program -- a demand that Iran again rejected yesterday.

``One of the reasons a U.S. withdrawal is so essential from Iraq is that until we do that, even our best allies aren't going to help us out,'' said retired Army General William Odom, a former director of the National Security Agency.

In the face of U.S. pressure, ``the Europeans are saying, `Why are we going to go into Afghanistan and get mired in a quagmire?''' said former State Department policy-planning official Henri Barkey. ``People perceive that we don't have a long-term strategy in Afghanistan. So why do you want to put troops where they will be targeted by the Taliban?''