From Cold War Defense Shield To Global Peacekeeper

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 as a counterweight to Soviet forces in central and eastern Europe after World War Two. For decades, the western alliance provided an opposing force to the Warsaw Pact and served as a defense shield against a feared attack directed from Moscow.

But after the Cold War ended, NATO began the process of redefining itself. In the mid-1990s, after the former Yugoslavia exploded in internecine warfare, it took on a role as peacekeeper.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

In 1995, after much hesitation and difficult negotiations with then-Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, NATO entered Bosnia-Herzegovina with a force of 60,000 soldiers in order to keep the warring parties -- Serbs, Croats and Bosnians -- apart.

The reputation of the effectiveness of international forces had suffered a powerful blow around the world after U.N. bluehelmets stood by helplessly as thousands of Muslim civilians were massacred in Srebenica. Still, NATO peacekeepers in the time since have managed to bring a degree of peace and stability to the once explosive region.

Nine years later, the original force of 60,000 has been reduced to 7,000. Those soldiers are primarily active in building streets and railroad tracks, clearing mines and gathering illegal weapons left over from the fighting.

In cities and villages in the area, NATO-lead international troops have set up liaison offices with local administrations. The cooperation on the ground functions relatively well, according to NATO.

After much discussion, the U.S. has decided to pull its troops out of the Bosnia. The command of the stabilization force there, or SFOR, will be handed over at the end of the year to the European Union, in close consultation with Bosnian officials.

Kosovo

In neighboring Kosovo, NATO's KFOR troops have had less success in bringing order and quiet to this Serbian province currently under U.N. administration.

Although 17,500 soldiers have been deployed to the region, the difficulty of the mission is illustrated in the fresh violence that broke out in March between the Serbian minority and Albanian majority.

Despite progress in starting to rebuilding the region physically, a political settlement between Serbs and Albanians still looks far off. Talks about the future status of the province will succeed only after the two groups learn to get along with one another.

KFOR is NATO's largest peacekeeping operation and will be commanded until September by Holger Kammerhoff, a German general. The Berlin government had hoped to be able to slowly reduce the German contingent, now at 3,900 soldiers. But at present that will not likely happen and the German defense ministry is prepared for a presence there of many more years.

Afghanistan

The first deployment of NATO troops outside Europe, as leaders of the 6,500-strong ISAF contingent in Afghanistan, is proving one of the more dangerous missions. ISAF troops have often been targeted for attack; this week a Norwegian soldier was killed.

With its 2,000 soldiers, Germany has the largest contingent in ISAF, whose troops are concentrated in the capital Kabul. However, NATO is also building regional reconstruction teams, one of which is made up of German soldiers in the northern city Kunduz. Another will be set up in Feisabad along with Dutch soldiers. Two other teams are made up of British and New Zealand soldiers and five additional are in the planning stages.

The U.S. has some 10,000 soldiers based in the east and south of the country, separated from ISAF troops. Mainly concerned with fighting Taliban extremists and terrorists, they operate a total of eight regional reconstruction teams.

The work of all the teams are important in the preparations for the upcoming elections in Afghanistan in September.

Despite that, NATO's commander-in-chief, U.S. General James Jones, is having problems getting needed additional troops for the Afghanistan mission. Many of the armies in NATO's 26 member states are still not trained or prepared for foreign deployment, complains Lord Robertson, the organization's former secretary general.