Key Issues

NATO Enlargement

NATO Heads of State and Government have formally invited seven new countries to join the Alliance: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The decision was announced at the opening session of the two-day Summit meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in the Czech capital Prague on 21 and 22 November.

The invited countries joined NATO in 2004, after the North Atlantic Treaty was passed by the parliaments and ratified by the current 19 member States.

This was the fifth enlargement in the Alliance's history: Greece and Turkey joined in 1952; Germany in 1955; Spain in 1982; and the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in 1999.

NATO in Afghanistan

On 11 August 2003, NATO took over command and coordination of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
The North Atlantic Council, the Alliance’s top decision-making body, agreed on 16 April 2003 to significantly expand NATO’s support to the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

NATO has already played a significant role in support of ISAF, with NATO member countries providing 95% of the troops involved.

Neither ISAF’s name nor mission will change. The operation will continue to operate under the United Nations mandate and the ISAF banner, and the Alliance will continue to welcome non-NATO contributors.

NATO’s role

The Alliance will be responsible for the planning and command of the peacekeeping force. This will include providing a force commander and headquarters.

JFC Brunssum's responsibility

The operation will be conducted under the overall command of the Allied Command Operations and will be run by the Joint Force Commander, at NATO's Joint Force Command Headquarters Brunssum (JFC HQ Brunssum).