NATO in Afghanistan: An Enduring Commitment?
NATO in Afghanistan: An Enduring Commitment?

Summary/Abstract: The status and role of NATO forces in Afghanistan has always been a contentious issue for all parties involved, for the U.S. and Afghan administrations (the main stakeholders in the state-building process), for other NATO member states, many of whom have openly questioned the rationale for engagement in such a distant and unconventional theatre, for Afghanistan’s neighbours, seeking to secure their interests in the region, and last but not least, for Western and Afghan societies, which are undoubtedly paying the highest prices for such involvement in “grand politics.” It is somewhat ironic therefore, that NATO, whose willingness to respond militarily after invoking Article V of the Washington Treaty was initially rejected by the U.S. administration as it was forming the anti-terrorist coalition in the aftermath of 9/11, has finally assumed the role of the main external security provider for the Afghan government and society and responsibility for the successful democratic transformation of the country.

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