NATO goes global: reflections on the NATO Afghanistan peacekeeping mission

In some respects, NATO's takeover of the command of ISAF [the UN-mandated International Security Force in Afghanistan] appeared to be a . . . fundamental departure for Euro-Atlantic out-of-area engagement, given Afghanistan's relative distance from Europe and the lack of a legacy of a colonial relationship with any European state. Moreover, in terms of troop size and the open-ended period of the operation, the commitment is far greater than in [the EU's] Operation Artemis [in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]. In reality, however, NATO's first out-of-area operation reflected commitments already undertaken by its member states. Command of ISAF had rotated among NATO members (the UK, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands), a costly and relatively inefficient means of sharing the burdens of the operation. NATO planning capabilities were already used by Germany and the Netherlands in helping to prepare their joint command of ISAF (February-August 2003). The significance of the NATO takeover was thus mainly political and internal to the organization: it signalled assent among NATO member states to the US call for a new role and identity for an alliance that has its roots in a cold war collective defence paradigm. It also signalled a bridge-mending effort after the divisive Iraq experience: NATO entered Afghanistan precisely because a NATO operation in Iraq was impossible in the immediate aftermath of the war in Iraq. It is unlikely, therefore, that this experience will in the short term lead to any fundamental re-examination of the UN-NATO relationship. Cooperation between the organizations on the ground continues to be based on their common experiences in the Balkans, in which large, separate UN and NATO presences and NATO autonomy of operation were key tenets.

However, two distinct factors make the picture more complicated in Afghanistan than in previous cases of UN-NATO co-location. First, ISAF's presence, limited for the moment to Kabul and Kunduz, sits alongside US-led coalition forces (mainly in the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan). Although the main task of the coalition forces is to hunt down and apprehend Taliban fighters, they constitute an important security presence in the troubled country. PRTs [Provincial Reconstruction Teams] have been established under coalition command with responsibility for supporting local government forces, providing local security and assisting disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes. Second, the UN presence in Afghanistan is limited and follows, by its own description, a 'light footprint approach'. UNAMA is a small civilian-staffed peace-building operation, focused on providing support to the Afghan Interim Authority and coordinating UN humanitarian and reconstruction activities in the country. Given the continuing instability in Afghanistan, the UN is thus heavily reliant on the support and protection of international security forces to carry out its tasks. The multiplicity of actors, their patchy presence across a wide terrain and the difficult security environment in which they operate make international coordination as challenging as it is necessary. In this respect, Afghanistan constitutes a potentially significant test case for international peace operations.

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