NATO after 9/11: Role in War Against Terrorism

Abstract

The study examines actions and decisions of the NATO, in reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and assesses role of the member states in combating global terrorism. Focus of the study is: first, on role the NATO played in the war against terrorism and second, the impediments that restrained a bigger global role of the alliance in this conflict. The study begins with the brief account of NATO transition from Cold War to post-9/11 era, followed by examination of the alliance’s response to 9/11 terrorist attacks including acquisition of essential capabilities for responding to global threat of terrorism. It then analyses role of NATO’s ISAF mission in Afghanistan, main motivations behind the decisions of the alliance members to contribute for the mission and its core objectives in fighting terrorism. After the broad overview of the NATO role in war on terror, main obstacles to such a bigger role of the alliance are analyzed. As a response to 9/11 terrorist attacks, instead of giving initiative to the alliance, the United States decided to lead a coalition of willing against the terrorists of AlQaeda and their supporters in Afghanistan. It became obvious during the conduct of “Operation Enduring Freedom” that leadership of the United States never wanted operations against terrorists to be dominated by alliance’s consensus building process. Lessons of the alliance role in Balkan crisis and gap in the military capabilities between America and its European allies possibly motivated the United States to avoid alliance’s constraints. Contributions of NATO to Operation Enduring Freedom and ISAF included deploying Naval Forces to the Eastern Mediterranean, deploying Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) for surveillance of U.S airspace, taking preventive measures against terrorism, sending military forces to Afghanistan in support of U.S efforts in war against Al-Qaeda and its supporters, conducting stabilization/ development/ humanitarian relieve operations in Afghanistan and providing training to Afghan Security Forces. Responses of NATO to the asymmetric and unconventional threat of global terrorism, and the combat and non-combat contributions that the alliance members could make in fighting terrorism, support the central hypothesis examined in this study: that the NATO is no more a single threat-specific and defensive alliance but adopted itself to the new realities and emerging threats