NATO Begins 1st Mission Beyond Euro-Atlantic
Today NATO has taken a leadership role in providing security in and around Kabul in Afghanistan, in what is the
Alliance’s first mission beyond the Euro-Atlantic area.
At a ceremony held in Kabul, the Alliance formally assumed a leadership role in the International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF), a UN-mandated force tasked with helping provide security in and around Kabul.
This groundbreaking operation demonstrates NATO’s resolve and ability to address new security challenges and take on new
missions and is clearly of benefit to all involved: to Afghanistan and its people, the United Nations and the wider
international community, and the NATO nations and their Partners.
According to ISAF’s operational commander, General Sir Jack Deverell, this step was “a milestone in NATO’s development
representing a real break from the NATO of the past to an Alliance which is more relevant and has greater utility in the
uncertain security environment of the future.”