Will Europe Pitch In?

As President Obama prepares to travel to Europe, Pew Research dusts off some findings from a 2008 survey on the President. This was particularly noticeable:

In 2008, a large majority of Turks (72%) and more than half of Germans and French (54%) favored removing U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan as soon as possible. The British were largely divided on the issue (43% remove troops vs. 48% keep troops).

During President Obama's speech on Friday, he said:

The world cannot afford the price that will come due if Afghanistan slides back into chaos or al Qaeda operates unchecked. We have a shared responsibility to act - not because we seek to project power for its own sake, but because our own peace and security depends upon it. And what's at stake now is not just our own security - it is the very idea that free nations can come together on behalf of our common security. That was the founding cause of NATO six decades ago. That must be our common purpose today.

Hopefully, the President will be able to overcome Euro-skepticism about the mission in Afghanistan. But would it really represent a grave blow to the idea of common security? After all, Europe is likely just as worried about Islamic radicalism as the U.S. They may simply disagree on the best methods to contain and combat it.