Posted on 05/17/2010 2:38:15 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
NATO must win the war in Afghanistan, expand ties with Russia, counter the threat posed by Iran's missiles, and assure the security of its 28 members, according to its new mission statement for the next decade.
The draft document, released Monday, seeks to bridge a growing rift between the U.S., which favors a greater international role for NATO, and European nations that want it to retain its traditional defensive focus.
"NATO must be versatile and efficient enough to operate far from home," said former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, head of the team of experts who wrote the document. "In order to sustain the political will for operations outside its area, NATO must see that all its members are reassured about the security of their home territories."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will use the draft as a basis for a new strategic concept that will be submitted for approval at the alliance's next summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in November.
Founded in 1948 to counter the threat of a Soviet invasion, the 28-member alliance is in the midst of a mid-life crisis as it searches for relevance almost 20 years after the collapse of its communist rival.
The previous strategic concept focused mainly on NATO's peacekeeping role in places like Bosnia and Kosovo. It was adopted in 1999, soon after the end of the Cold War and before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States forced the alliance to take on missions such as counterinsurgency warfare in Afghanistan.
The war is the largest mission ever attempted by the alliance. More than 100,000 NATO troops, about two-thirds of them Americans, are currently deployed there. Nearly 1,800 NATO soldiers have been killed in the escalating conflict.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
NATO still favors U.S. battlefield nuclear weapons remaining in Europe
the Berlin wall came down because Russia had Western governments more thoroughly penetrated than East Germany’s.
No need for a wall.
I always thought NATO’s mission statement was to retain the protection of the United States so that Europe could continue to piss away defense money on failed socialist programs.
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