ABSTRACT
The intervention in Afghanistan was the most complex Western military operation in the post-Cold War period. The organisation’s command centre, led by Osama bin Laden, at that time was ‘hosted’ by the Taliban, who controlled – although not de iure – almost the entire territory of Afghanistan. The period during which the right to self-defence could remain the valid justification for the intervention in Afghanistan also required interpretation. The activity of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), in turn, was aimed at the rebuilding of Afghanistan, and the biggest contingents were provided by Canada and European North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) members. For many European NATO members, in turn, and for some other ISAF members, rebuilding Afghanistan was a central objective in its own right. The direction of the changes had been signalled in ISAF’s Strategic Vision adopted at the NATO Bucharest Summit, but they were fully implemented only in 2009, after Obama assumed office as the US President.
