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United States and Belgium

The United States and Belgium are good friends and allies, despite occasional disagreements on a limited number of foreign policy issues. Good will and affection for Americans is widely held as a result of the U.S. role during and after the two World Wars, as was exhibited in 2004 during the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Belgium. Annual celebrations of liberation are held in many Belgian communities today. The two nations' continuing cooperative relationship marked its 175th anniversary in 2007.

The U.S. appreciates Belgian activism in international affairs, including its participation in the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan; its humanitarian, reconstruction, and development assistance to Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan; its peacekeeping missions in the Balkans and Lebanon; its frequent provision of airlift in international crises; and its hosting of transatlantic dialogues between European foreign ministers and the Secretary of State.

As an outward-looking nation, Belgium works closely with the United States bilaterally and in international and regional organizations to encourage economic and political cooperation and assistance to developing countries. Belgium has welcomed hundreds of U.S. firms to its territory, many of which have their European headquarters there.

Belgium's approach to Afghanistan and to cooperation with U.S. military efforts generally experienced a sharp turnaround after the December, 2007 arrival of Pieter De Crem as Defense Minister in a new coalition government. De Crem, a Flemish Christian Democrat, has worked with Foreign Minister De Gucht, a Flemish Liberal (i.e., conservative) to make the case publicly for the need for Belgian involvement in Afghanistan in the context of a "success strategy" that with time and sustained international commitment, will lead to an "independent and law abiding Afghanistan to which the international community can transfer all responsibilities." De Crem traveled frequently to Afghanistan, including trips in 2008 with General Craddock and to lead a parliamentary and media delegation to visit Belgian forces. In a visit to Washington in 2008, De Crem described Belgium's desire to become the indispensable small ally of the United States.

Belgium began to match rhetoric with action. Of 1200 deployed Belgian forces worldwide in 2009, some 500 are in Afghanistan. Belgium handed responsibility for operation of Kabul airport to Hungary on October 1, but continues to provide 280 troops for airport security, and provides the facility's deputy commander. More importantly, it has deployed four F-16s to Kandahar together with 100 support personnel, and a 70-person Belgian OMLT arrived in Kabul in January 2009 for certification prior to deployment to its operational area in the north. By 2009 more than 60 percent of the MOD's operational budget was spent on Afghanistan, although the MFA and MOD do not like to publicize the fact.

Belgium is skeptical of what it perceives as some partners' proposed "quick fixes" for the Congo, such as certain French initiatives and what it sees as a U.S. tilt toward military approaches. Inside the Belgian government and in public opinion, the 2009 Rwandan-DRC and Ugandan operations in the east of Congo were viewed very negatively, and Belgians are deeply troubled by media reports of supposed U.S. support of these operations. Belgium believes military operations will result in unacceptable civilian casualties and atrocities such as those reported in the aftermath of operations by Ugandan forces against the Lord's Resistance Army.

On 19 February 2010, four elder statesmen of Belgian foreign policy, Former NATO Secretary General and Belgian Foreign Minister Willy Claes (Sp.a, Flemish Socialist), former Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene (CD&V, Flemish Christian Democrat), former Foreign Minister Louis Michel (MR, francophone liberal), and former Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (Open VLD, Flemish liberal) signed an editorial in the Flemish newspaper De Standaard, urging the removal of NATO's tactical nuclear weapons from Europe. The four politicians expressed full support for President Obama's desire to eventually rid the world of nuclear weapons. They said that with the end of the Cold War, it is time for nuclear policy to adapt to changed circumstances, particularly the increased risk of proliferation to unstable or hostile countries. They posed a choice between a world where more and more countries have nuclear weapons or one where the nine current nuclear weapon states focus on eliminating their stockpiles.

The four statesmen argued that U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in Europe no longer have a point. Their political usefulness as a symbol of Transatlantic unity is outweighed by the signal to the world that such weapons are "necessary", they say. There is strong public support for removal of the weapons in Belgium, they contend, and they call on the Belgian government to "take active steps within NATO" for their rapid removal. Ideally, they continue, this would happen in a negotiation with Russia, so a proportional reduction of the Russian weapons is achieved, but they would accept a unilateral move in order to set an example for the Russians. Finally, they distinguish the issue of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe from the issue of missile defense. "When talking about controlling the most destructive weapons of mass destruction, real steps toward disarmament are more effective than questionable technologies that are perceived as destabilizing by great powers that do not have them."