The war in Afghanistan has also provided NATO the opportunity to consolidate control over the nations of former Yugoslavia. A NATO foreign ministers meeting in Estonia last month approved Bosnia's Membership Action Plan, the last stage before full membership, after the nation announced troop deployments to Afghanistan.
"Bosnia took its first step toward joining NATO...as the 28-country alliance offered the Balkan country a conditional path for membership....In agreeing to offer the membership action plan, the NATO ministers welcomed...the country's contributions to the NATO-led security force in Afghanistan (ISAF)." [13]
On May 10 it was reported that NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Security Cooperation and Partnership - and Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia - Robert Simmons announced "Montenegro...will be the next country to join NATO." [14]
Tiny Montenegro, only an independent country for four years, sent its first troops to Afghanistan in March and this month its defense minister and chief of the general staff will visit the war zone.
Throughout March and April U.S. Special Operations Command Europe conducted aviation exercises with the Croatian Air Force based, as the website of U.S. European Command described it, on the Pentagon's new emphasis on international counterinsurgency operations, the laboratory for which is Afghanistan: "The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review highlighted the importance of increasing rotary-wing availability as one of the most significant elements to achieving success in large-scale counterinsurgency, stability and counterterrorism operations worldwide." [16]
Croatia and fellow Balkan nation Albania were welcomed as full NATO members last year after providing troops for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Albania's defense minister was in Afghanistan earlier this month to inspect his nation's 255 troops stationed in Herat Province. "The personnel belong to two units of the army's elite forces: the 2nd Battalion of the Rapid Reaction Brigade and the Commando Regiment." [17]
Along with the Balkans and the South Caucasus, the war in Afghanistan has been instrumental in NATO strengthening its grip on the Scandinavian nations that are not yet full members. NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, visited Sweden and Finland on May 12, thanking the two nations for the 500 and 150 troops, respectively, they have in command of NATO ISAF operations in four northern Afghan provinces. Stavridis didn't mention the five Swedish and Finnish troops killed in fighting there, though he did inspect a live-fire military exercise in Finland.
The war in Afghanistan has also been the vehicle for NATO formally penetrating the Asia-Pacific area, forming what the Alliance calls Contact Country partnerships with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Earlier this month the chief of U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus (now being touted as a 2012 presidential candidate), said "he would welcome more Australian troops in Afghanistan." [18] The nation is already the largest contributor of forces among those which are not full NATO members.
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yu Myung-hwan visited NATO headquarters on May 11, met with Secretary General Rasmussen - "During the meeting, they discussed how to foster NATO-Korea relations" [19] - and addressed the North Atlantic Council. In April South Korea became the latest nation to be designated a formal troop contributor for NATO in Afghanistan and will deploy as many as 400 soldiers.
Troops from Singapore and Mongolia [20] are also serving under NATO command and Kazakhstan, which like Mongolia borders Russia and China, has been mentioned as a location for a new U.S. and NATO military base to supplement or replace the one in Kyrgyzstan. [21]
The U.S. and NATO Afghan campaign has served to expand the military network of the Pentagon and the Alliance throughout several continents, from air bases in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania in Europe to ones in Central Asia - Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - to transit routes and centers in the South Caucasus (Georgia and Azerbaijan) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).
Through bilateral military ties between the U.S. and Pakistan and the Trilateral Afghanistan-Pakistan-NATO Military Commission, the West has penetrated the military of that key nation as well.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force commander General McChrystal was in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad "to provide an update on ISAF's operations in Afghanistan and to consult with Pakistan's army chief.
"The NATO commander's meeting came at a time when U.S. forces are planning a major offensive in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and they would need
Pakistan's support to enhance security along the border to stop the possible intrusion of militants.
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