“NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION”
FLAG OF NATO:
ORIGIN:
It is also called the Atlantic alliance; it is a military alliance between the governments. The origin
of NATO belongs to the period when after world war II the two superpowers US and USSR
occupied much of the Europe and were responsible for the establishment of governments there
but they could manage as they tensions between both the powers were increasing .the soviets
were having great influence in the eastern Europe and they also supported a communist party and
broke out civil war in Greece, so this influence of soviets on the eastern Europe was a threat to
the western Europe
FORMATION:
Under the charter of United States at that time 12 States in April 1949 established the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to coordinate the military defenses of member nations
against possible Soviet aggression and the states greed to consider an armed attack against any
one of them as an attack against all
The originating NATO was formed by the following 12 states Belgium, Canada, Denmark,
France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the
United States and later on more countries joined NATO
PURPOSE OF FORMATION:
The purpose of formation at that time was to build up a block or an alliance of military forces
that provided shelter to the states in the territory of NATO. NATO's policy is known as
deterrence because it is designed to deter (discourage) an attack
MEMBER STATES: Currently NATO is an alliance between 28 countries and they are called
the member states of NATO, they are given bellow
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Rep, Denmark, Estonia ,France ,Germany,
Greece, Hungary ,Iceland , Italy ,Latvia, Lithuania ,Luxembourg , Netherlands ,Norway ,Poland ,
Portugal ,Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia ,Spain ,Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.
STRUCTURE OF NATO AS AN ORGANIZATION:
NATO basically consists of two branches
Civilian branch
Military branch
The NATO website lists forty-three different agencies and organizations and five project
committees/offices as of 15 May 2008
CIVILIAN BRANCH:
It includes North Atlantic council the highest authority in NATO
The council consists of the head of governments of the member states
A secretary general heads the council that has always been a European
MILITARY BRANCH:
The NATO military branch includes three commands:
Allied Command Atlantic
Allied Command Channel, and
Allied Command Europe:
The allied command Europe is of core importance in NATO, its commander always
being a US general
CHAIN OF COMMAND:
North Atlantic Council
Military Committee
Military commanders
Note: military committee consists of the military chiefs, staffs or other representatives of the NATO
member states
FUNCTIONALITY OF NATO BEFORE 9/11:
This alliance was formed resulting from the tensions of World War II among the states of
Western Europe by pooling in the military forces of all the member states and using them against
a threat to any one of them due to the aggression of soviet influence in the Eastern Europe but
when the Warsaw pact that was formed against NATO actions was dissolved in 1991 NATO’s
purpose was not were clear.
But after the Warsaw pact was dissolves NATO started to contact the eastern European countries
to join NATO and began the partnership for peace program in 1994 which does not involve the
formal NATO membership
EFFECT AFTER 9/11:
After 9/11 NATO for the first time in its history called upon the article 5 of its charter that says a
threat to single state will be taken as a threat to all, eight official actions were taken by NATO
including and Operation Active Endeavour. Operation Active Endeavour is a naval operation in
the Mediterranean Sea and is designed to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass
destruction
In 2003 NATO’s first operation outside its territory by taking command of International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan
ISSUES IN NATO:
NATO’s existence after the Warsaw pact was dissolved was doubted ,and since the beginning
NATO has tensions between Russia even Russia signed the Partnership for Peace program but
NATO’s military action against the Bosnian Serbs increased tensions between the two as Russia
is an ally with the Serbs
Another issue was the NATO’s policy to deter the Soviet Union using the nuclear weapons
which most of the NATO states opposed the use of nuclear weapons and they even doubted that
US will use its nuclear weapons to defend the NATO states so France and Britain started their
own nuclear programs
PAKISTAN AND NATO:
As Pakistan shares border with Afghanistan known as the Durant line so Pakistan was
strategically of importance, NATO used Pakistan’s routes and check posts to invade Afghanistan
and even till now Pakistan road maps are used to transport aid or material to Afghanistan. After
that in 2005 NATO forces provided military and airlifting assistance and aids to Pakistan at the
end of this operation in 2006 political relations among NATO and Pakistan were strengthen
The growing NATO-Pakistan military-to-military cooperation in the context of Afghanistan is
reflected in the work of the Tripartite Commission, a joint forum on military and security issues
which brings together representatives from the NATO-led ISAF operation, Afghanistan and
Pakistan, other then this NATO is providing selected trainings to the military officers of Pakistan
,NATO’s secretary general has visited Pakistan two times since 2005 and visits from Pakistan to
NATO headquarters have also being arranged
IMPORTANT INCIDENTS:
NATO's central office had been in Paris
1949 April, 4th -- NATO signed by 12 Nations
1951 President Eisenhower appointed by Truman to Overall Command of NATO
1952 February NATO conference approves the idea of a European army
Greece and Turkey joined NATO in 1952
1954 September, 8th SEATO of 8 nations links South Eastern Asia in much the same
manner as NATO
1955 May Federal Republic of Germany enters NATO
1966 France withdraws from the NATO military structure but remains a member of
NATO.
In 1967, the organization moved its headquarters to Brussels, Belgium
Spain joined NATO in 1982
Partnership for Peace program was started in 1994, mostly the east European nations
joined including Russia
In the mid-1990's, NATO took military action against Bosnian Serb forces
2003 NATO for the first time takes over an operation out of its territory in Afghanistan
by agreeing to take command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in
Afghanistan
REFERENCES:
http://members.tripod.com/more_tra/1e_nato_txt.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO#After_the_11_September_attacks
http://www.nato.int/issues/nato_pakistan/index.html
