Afghanistan: The Russian Monkey Wrench

Russia said Aug. 26 that it will end or curtail peacekeeping cooperation with NATO in several areas, but will continue to work with the West in Afghanistan. This is a veiled threat, of course; Russia is letting NATO know that its cooperation is not assured. There are a number of ways in which Russia could hamstring the West's operations in Afghanistan, but none of these options is without risk for Moscow. Russia also benefits from having the U.S. military commitment in Afghanistan continue both because it consumes U.S. military capacity and because it helps contain and focus Islamist extremism in the wider region — and Russia also has its own internal problems with such extremism.