BRUSSELS, 10 September 2005 — When the United States shunned NATO for its 2001 invasion to oust Afghanistan’s Taleban rulers, it looked like another nail in the coffin of an alliance whose purpose in life had crumbled along with the Berlin Wall. But if Afghanistan’s Sept. 18 elections pass off smoothly, NATO could be propelled right into the front-line. Some in the alliance — notably the United States — want it to take on all international peacekeeping there in as little as 12 months.
They see the impoverished Muslim state as the crucible in which the alliance can forge itself a new identity — way outside its old territory and in a guise unrecognizable from the titan which once faced the Soviet Union across the Iron Curtain.
“Succeeding in Afghanistan in this house is a very big deal,” said the US NATO ambassador Victoria Nuland of NATO’s 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission there, currently focused around the capital Kabul, the north and west.
With thousands of candidates to protect and fears of attacks by insurgents and others on polling booths and vote counting centers, NATO has drafted in an extra 2,000 troops and added air support for one month either side of the Afghan polls.
For the time being, the NATO-led ISAF force plays second fiddle to the 20,000-strong US-led coalition that bears the brunt of a stubborn insurgency in the south and east. Much of ISAF’s impact relies on highly visible patrols hoping to deter attacks. But ISAF commanders say they will not hesitate to intervene if the Afghan police and army cannot cope.
Despite a recent surge in violence, confidence runs high in both NATO and the US-led coalition that the elections will be a success. But analysts warn this will not automatically mean that NATO can take operations over.