South Korea

South Korea is sending more troops to Afghanistan, a full Province Reconstruction Team of 500 troops, mainly engineers and such but also with some infantry to back them up.

I wrote a paper for my last grad program suggesting that the US-ROK alliance could be the model for the future of US alliances. As it is based on ideology and history, rather than a temporary shared enemy, it provides the possibility of South Korea assisting us in many different places in the world. This is a great example of that coming to bear.

South Korea is also branching out into other ways to project power, including small aircraft carriers. This is an amazing opportunity for the US to have a strong ally fully committed to helping preserve the current international system. In a rational world, this would be enough reason for the US to cut back on VSTOLs, but we know that won't happen. But it is an opportunity for the US to rely on some others and have the whole system sustain itself.